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COPYRIGHT DEPOStK 



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LETTERS OF MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 



LETTERS 



OF 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

EDITED BY 

HARRIET S. BLAINB- BEALE 

VOLUME I 




NEW YORK 

DUFFIELD AND COMPANY 

1908 



LIBRARY ot CONGRESS 
Two Oocie? i^eci'ived 

DEC ? 1303 

_ <k Copyri^nt ti^try _ 






Copyright, 1908 
By Duffielt) and Company 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

iy J'Y first thought in bringing my mother's letters 
■^ -■■ together and putting them into readable form was 
to give to her grandchildren some clearer understand- 
ing of the home life into which her children were born 
and to which they look back with such tender love and 
appreciation as the years teach them its value. There 
was no thought of making a biography, and it is only 
as one letter has been added to another, and year after 
year rescued from oblivion, that I have comprehended 
that it is my mother\s portrait which stands revealed 
on the background of the past. With gratitude I 
realize that she, who never gave a thought to herself, 
living only in the lives of others, who was content to 
be used, absorbed, obliterated if need be, in her service 
of love, lives once more in these rescued leaves, in her 
forcefulness, her honesty, her humor, and her splendid 
courage that was so cruelly tried. 

A brief introduction to the published lettei"s is 
perhaps needed. 

[ V] 



PREFACE 

Harriet Bailey Stanwood was the seventh child and 
fifth daughter of Jacob Stanwood and his second wife, 
Sally Caldwell. She was born at Augusta, Maine, on 
October ]2, 1828, whither her parents had moved from 
Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1820, when Maine was made 
a state, and where her father carried on the business 
of a woollen merchant. She was educated first at the 
Cony Academy in Augusta, and later at Mr. and Mrs. 
Cowles*" School for Girls in Ipswich, where she was 
studying at the time of her father's death in 1845. 
On leaving the Cowles' School she went to join her 
older sister, Caroline, as a teacher at Mrs. Johnson's 
school in Millersburg, Kentucky. There she met 
James Gillespie Blaine, who at that time was also 
teaching, at the Western Military Institute at George- 
town, Kentucky, and there in 1850 they were married. 
From Millersburg they went to Philadelphia, where he 
taught in the Institute for the Blind and where their first 
child, Stanwood, was born in 1851. At the age of three 
Stanwood died, and that keen sorrow, followed almost 
immediately by the death of my mother's mother, to 
whom she was tenderly attached, brought my father 
and mother to Augusta, where they henceforth made 
their home, living for the first years in the old 
Stanwood house, with the oldest unmarried sisters, the 
" Aunt Susan " and " Aunt Caddy " of the letters, and 
moving later to the Rufus Child house at the corner 
[ vi ] 



PREFACE 

of State and Capitol Streets. The year after their 
return to Augusta, in 1855, a son was born, Robert 
Walker, followed in 1857 by another son, Williams 
Emmons, by a daughter, Alice Stanwood, in 1860, and 
by the three younger children who alone survive their 
parents. In 1863 my ffxther was sent to the National 
Congress, and in 1869 he was made Speaker of the 
House. From that time they spent their winters in 
Washington, and from the year 1871 my mother's 
letters explain her life so fully that little further 
commenting is needed. 

H. S. B. B. 

Washington, D. C. , October 26, 1908. 



[vii] 



1869 



From 1862 to 1866 IVIr. Blaine represented the third Maine district, 
the so-called Kennebec district, in the lower house of Congress. From 
the period when these Letters begin, 1869, to 1876, he was Speaker 
of the House, and the family residence alternated between Washing- 
ton and Augusta. 

IVIr. Blaine was born at West Browns\-ille, Pennsylvania, Janu- 
ary 31, 1830. His active poUtical experience began in 185-1 when he 
became the part owner and editor of the Kennebec Journal, pub- 
hshed at Augusta, Maine, then the official organ of the Whig party, 
holding the same relation to the RepubUcan party when two years 
later that party came into being. He reported the legislative debates 
for his paper, and it is remembered that he never made written notes 
of the votes on the calls for yeas and nays, but depended on his 
memory alone, which was so accurate that the record was never in 
error. An interesting fact is that the legislative reporter for the 
Democratic paper at that time was Melville W. Fuller, later Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

JNIr. Blaine's political experience was first developed by his edi- 
torial work, and then more directly by active participation in the 
campaign of 1856 in the interest of the newly organized Republican 
party. He had previously been a delegate to the First RepubUcan 
Convention which had nominated John C. Fremont for the Presi- 
dency. In 1858 he edited the Portland Advertiser, but gave up active 
newspaper work thereafter, except that he edited the Kennebec 
Journal in the autumn of 1860 during the campaign which resulted 
in the first election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United 
States. 

In 1858 he was elected to the Maine Legislature and re-elected in 
1859-60 and 1861, ser\Tng the last two years as Speaker of that 
body. In 1862 he succeeded Anson Morrill (brother of Lot M. 
Morrill) in the lower house of the National Congress as Repre- 
sentative from the third Maine district, the so-called Kennebec 
district, which he continued to represent until the summer of 1876, 
when Lot M. Morrill was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by 
President Grant, and Mr. Blaine was appointed by the Governor of 
Maine to ser\'e out Mr. Morrill's unexpired term in the United States 
Senate. In the following winter he was elected for the full term. 



LETTERS OF 

Mrs. JAMES G. BLAINE 



To Walker, at Phillips Academy, 
Andover 

Augusta, Friday evening (1869) 
My dear Walker, — I am sorry not to be able 
to write you a long letter to-night, but as it is already 
past ten, and Jamie is liable to wake up every moment, 
I know I shall not be able to. Yoiir three letters came 
tonight, and I cannot tell you how delighted we all 
were to hear from you. By we all, I mean Emmons 
and moi-mcme. I had been down town all the after- 
noon, and my first question when we got in was as to 
the whereabouts of my letters. I did you the honor 
of keeping Father's letters waiting while I read all 
of yours. No further proof could I give of ray 
desire to hear from you, as I often think my letters 
from Father are my daily bread. Now, one word, 
or rather several, about the boarding house and the 
homesickness, and the last first. I hoped you might 
be spared this most trying ordeal, but I did not 

[3] 



LETTERS OF 

expect it. Does it not come to every one? Never 
shall I forget going to Ipswich when I was nine years 
old. The first evening after my arrival the fit came 
on me in full severity. I fled out of the house and 
crouched down behind a hogshead. In the pre-cistem 
days, a hogshead for rain-water graced every back 
door in New England. There was I found, but when 
questioned, I remember that I prevaricated. Some- 
thing disgraceful associated itself in my mind with 
homesickness, so I said that I was crying for my 
wormwood and molasses, a spoonful of which de- 
hghtful compound I was accustomed to take for some 
humour I had. I was at once accommodated with the 
dram, and so got well paid for my deception. 

But to revert to yourself. Time will cure this. 
If you can only hold out a few days it will disappear 
like the early mist before the sun. And this ghost 
once laid rises again never. 

And now if I could only look in on your quarters, 
I would unerringly advise you, but since I cannot 
I must go by the data I have ; and first I send you 
Mr. Smyth's letter which Father sent me to-night, 
and which you will find in the box. You will agree 
with me that it is better almost to suffer three months' 
discomfort than to make of no avail so kind an effort 
on the part of Mr. S. If the other room you speak 
of is airier, better furnished, more cheerful than the 

[ 4 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

one you now have I would take it. You must not con- 
sider the difference in the expense. But I do not 
beheve your Father would want you to have a room 
mate. I hope that you will stay at Mrs. Mathers 
and justify the high opinion Mr. Smyth seems to 
have of you. He can not think more highly of j^ou 
than you deserve in my eyes, but then, I am your 
mother, and have borne you these many years in my 
prayers and my hopes. You would nowhere get much 
of a table. You can buy yourself a good wholesome 
lunch now and then when the inner man feels that it 
must be renewed. At any rate, all you have to do 
is to keep up good courage and God will give you the 
reward of well doing. 

You ought to see Emmons's sympathy in your 
trials. " If he was Jack he would hump it to the first 
train." " It pulls a fellow down terribly, I tell 3'ou, 
mother, not to have what they like to eat," and so 
he goes on. Alice is not very well. She has not 
eaten anything to-day. I have been over to St Cath- 
erine's this afternoon to make the arrangements for 
her starting there Monday. Aunt Caddy has been 
here all the evening. She thinks your case not to be 
compared to Herbert's. Gen. Hodsdon and Capt. 
Boutelle ^ have been here all the evening. Johnny was 
in last evening to play some of the airs in La Grande 

* Charles A. Boutelle, editor Bangor Whig aud Courier; later 
Member of Congress. r ~ 1 

L ^ J 



LETTERS OF 

Duchesse to Emmons. You should have seen the 
latter in his stocking feet dancing and singing to 
the accompaniment. But I have written Jamie 
awake, and must say good night. Keep me well 
posted in all your affairs, and if Mrs. Mathers re- 
mains uncongenial to you, I will arrange to have 
you change, but I shall be pleased if you can stay 
and be happy. The next time you write send a mes- 
sage particularly to Alice. 

From your loving, 

Mother. 

AuGtiSTA, Sunday afternoon. 
My dear Walker, — I feel very sorry about your 
lamp, especially as on looking into my pocket-book 
I find I have not enough to send you the Gorman 
Students'. I can hardly beheve myself that my funds 
are so low, with Father still to be away two days 
longer, but I had to pay the workmen last night, a 
disbursement I did not anticipate. Your Father is 
in Boston to-day and I think very likely you may 
have heard from him, so I will not take up my time 
describing his movements. Emmons, Alice, M and 
myself went to church this morning. Heard Mr. 
Bingham, who was fighting a windmill, it seemed to 
me, all morning. No one has been in this afternoon, 
and I feel almost too lonesome to write letters. When 

[6] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

you are lonely writing does not relieve the sense of 
isolation as much as reading. 

Have I written you that we are painting the house, 
building a portico on the south doors, lowering the 
chimneys, and resodding the north bank? Well, we 
are, and Emmons has a great deal of enjoyment in 
Sam Brick's society. He helped him yesterday paint 
the bhnds. We shall be well through by the time you 
get home, if all goes well ; how soon that will be ! 
Each and all send love to brother Walker. Jamie is 
a lovely baby — M. very funny and entertaining. 

As it is possible that you may have some money by 
you, enough to make out for the lamp, I send you 
five dollars. Do not be extravagant. 

From your attached mother, who would write you 
a longer letter if her paper were smoother. 

The NeAvton boys got home Saturday. Emmons 
says Ben Deering is to be a minister. The weather 
is lovely, the grass turning green, streets in some 
places dusty, and the Bingham boys and Fred Cony 
just going up back of the State House for a walk. 

Good-by my dear boy, and the best of Heaven's 
blessings, a pure heart and good conscience, be yours. 
From, 

MOTHEE. 



[7] 



LETTERS OF 

Augusta, Tuesday morning, April 27, 1869 
My DEAa Walkee, — I am ashamed when I re- 
member how long it is since your lovang mother wrote 
you a letter, but I must say just one word in her 
extenuation. And to resume the ego in toto, I have 
so many things to occupy my head, my heart and my 
purse, that the amazing wonder of it all is that I 
remember to do anything, or anything well. To all 
this large household I am obliged to be father, mother, 
aunt and referee on every subject, spiritual and 
secular. From John, with his poor, neglected, dirty 
horse, to Jamie, there is no authority but myself, 
and when to crown and commence the day Ada gives 
me a poor breakfast, as she very often does, I feel 
that I bring not the strength of a humming bird to 
meet these many demands. 

Yesterday Emmons commenced his school again, 
likewise M the magnificent, hers. Mons came home 
at noon perfectly disgusted with his arrangements. 
He had been put into Cjesar, although he is perfectly 
unposted as to rules ; into geometry though he has 
never been in algebra, and in arithmetic only to square 
root. His other study — natural history — he made 
no objection to. Then he has that bete noir — decla- 
mation — threatening him. Altogether, I think 
were it not for the fear of boarding-school hanging 
over him, he would sit down in the ashes and v\'ait for 

[8] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

his fairy godmother rather than try to help himself. 
But with this dread harrowing his soul, he knows 
that he must do or die, so last night he shut himself 
in the parlor till he had mastered his geometry, and 
this morning at breakfast while I cut steak and poured 
coffee, he ate and read out his " Gallia est omnis 
divisa in partes tres," and I will say for him that he 
translated his nine lines very deftly and neatly. All 
your old books come in play so well that he has not 
had to buy a new one. As soon as breakfast is over, 
he harnesses, then I put on my pretty hat, take in 
the little Blaine girls and the one big brother, and, 
leaving J'aime in his red night gown to the tender 
mercies of his little nurse, forth we drive. 

First we drop M at Winthrop street; she goes 
off bowing her head and saying — " Now, Alice 
Blaine." Then Emmons throws out the reins and 
gives a spring as we come in sight of that dirty 
huhhuhhly high school, and lastly I drive over the old 
bridge and deposit my saintly Alice among the saints. 
She likes them much, and this is now the fourth week, 
so I feel some confidence in the permanency of her 
regard. When I come home there is Jamie to bathe 
and dress, and Father's letter to write. This letter 
to Father has become such a choice affair that I have 
no doubt I shall go on jotting down my poor little 
trifles even when we are under the same roof. Father 

[9] 



LETTERS OF 

meets me with the salutation — " Well, old lady, 
the separation is over. We have nothing to do now 
but enjoy each other." This on Friday, but on 
Wednesday I find myself at the door, that familiar 
old bag in my hand which I could pack asleep, saying 
good-by with the best grace I may. I give him now 
till Saturday to get home in. If he comes not then 
I have a fit of the blues all ready to put on. 
} I was perfectly delighted to hear from him so satis- 
factory an account of you. That your tongue ran, 
that you ate the oranges, that the homesickness had 
disappeared, that you addressed Aunt Caddy as Sir; 
each and every item gave satisfaction. 



Augusta, Thursday a. m. May 27, 1869. 

]\Iy dear Walker, — You will hardly believe that 
you directed your last letter to Washington, and that 
to that great and wicked and corrupt and corruptible 
city it went before I had the satisfaction of seeing it, 
yet such is the truth; and if I had not fortunately 
been seized with a fit of curiosity respecting 3'our 
dear daddy's correspondence, it would have gone on 
to New York, another city of notorious depravity, the 
fame of which may have reached even your humble 
ears, before it would have gladdened my waiting eyes. 
I say my waiting eyes, because I had begun to think 
[ 10] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

it high and higher time that I should hear from you, 
and now, as my time before the mail takes up is some- 
what of the shortest, — to plunge in medias res. This 
is Latin, and Latin proper, my dear son, and not to 
be confounded with Greek. Your Father left yester- 
day for New York. He was at home just as long as 
it took the Creator to make the world, only your 
D.D. (short for Dear Daddy) rested his six days, 
and on the seventh commenced his labor anew. F S 
came home with him Wednesday, and left the next 
Tuesday. His visit gave us great pleasure, to none 
more than to Emmons; and by the way, that dear 
brother of thine is to come back to Andover with 
thee; and I trust him to you, Walker, in the confi- 
dence that in all that makes for brotherly love and 
perfect harmony you will never fail me. You are 
the elder, and doubtless you will often have to yield 
more than you will think the elder brother should, 
but whenever you are tempted to overbear, remember 
the teaching and the example of the Elder Brother of 
us all, and you will know just how to do. 

Mother. 

Augusta, Thursday evening 
My dear Son, — How long is it since I have writ- 
ten you? Every morning I think I shall certainly 
find time for a good long letter to Andover to-day, 
[11] 



LETTERS OF 

and night lets do^m her curtain upon me and the 
thing I would do I have not done. The truth is, I 
have no nurse for Jamie, and the principal care of 
him comes upon me, and this perpetual occupation 
underlying all my other cares, robs my days and 
evenings of all leisure. Ada, too, has been sick this 
week, so that there has been an added demand upon 
me for a few days. I often think that since in this 
world some things must be crowded out (this good 
idea is not mine but Mrs. Craddock's,^ in that serial in 
the " Young Folks " — I have forgotten its name) 
I will elect that tucks and embroideries shall be from 
my Hfe and my little girls', and perhaps I shall then 
find that I have like other people, twenty-four hours 
to my day. Can you make out my writing easily 
enough to readily take in my ideas.? 

I have been over to-night to see John Bruce ; found 
him bolstered up in his chair, very feeble, apparently 
only a few days to live. I hope he will last a few 
days longer so that I may have the comfort of show- 
ing him a few httle kindnesses. Father goes to Bos- 
ton to-morrow. Am sorry to lose him even for a few 
days, but his errand is an important one and he must 
go. He will visit you at Andover before he returns. 

' The Hon. Harriet Lister Craddock, Maid of Honor to the Queen 
in the early 40's and author of "The Calendar of Nature, or tlie 
Seasons of Enp;land," edited hy Lord John Russell, and of "John 
Smith," "Rose," and other novels. 

[ 12] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I would send you a basket of goodies but he takes the 
eastern road. How did you like the buttons I sent 
you for your birthday.? We are having the house 
painted. Quite an improvement it will be too. I only 
wish we were building a new large room for my dear 
boy at Andover, but I intend to select a large and 
handsome one for him at Washington. Emmons still 
insists that he will not go back with you next term, 
although his Father is very anxious that he should. 
He likes Mr. Lambert very much indeed, but is un- 
fortunately situated as to his studies, having been 
obliged to abandon his Latin. Monday the Blaines 
had a grand hair-cutting. The barber shop did 
not come until nine, and then there were the pater, 
Alice, Emmons and ]M to be operated on. All 
went merry as a marriage bell till it came to the 
last, then trouble began. Such a time as we had. 
Father stormed, threatened and coaxed, all to no 
purpose. Then he resorted to strength, muscle, 
Emmons would call it. But even here he was hardly 
a match for her. She never gave in, no, not for a 
second, and parted with her hair only as the dextrous 
scissors took it from her. Every inch of the way she 
fought. Great streams of perspiration flowed down 
the artist's face; but little by little the work went 
on, M all the time crying out amid her sobs — 
*' I shall look horrid, I know I shall ; I shall look like 
[ 13] 



LETTERS OF 

a bride, I know I shall." She is not a bit reconciled 
to her loss yet. 

Mrs. Child, who boards in Andover, wants you to 
come and see her. She is grandmother to Robert 
Wainwright who is at your school. 

Good-night, my dear, and excuse this short and 
abrupt letter from, 

Mother. 

Friday evening. 
Dear Walker, — I have just received your letter 
of Sunday. Emmons also has his. Both we have 
enjoyed very much indeed. Write early and often. 
Emmons is at this moment on his knees helping Mr. 
Sherman,^ Father's clerk, empty about twenty bags 
of their contents. The library and the vestibule 
are " all running out at the mouth " with humbugs 
for the constituents. Father left this morning for 
Boston. He expects to visit Andover before his re- 
turn, but this I have already written you. About 
your rooms, I think I may venture to let you take 
a room at Mrs. Torry's. I have such confidence in 
your good behavior that I believe you will prove no 
exception to the gentlemanly rule, which, according 
to your account, seems to obtain in her family. Have 

' Thomas H. Sherman, Mr. Blaine's private secretary for more 
than twenty years, and later U. S. consul at Liverpool. 

[14] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I written you how much M enjoyed her dollar? 
She bought a lead pencil, Faber 2, with it, and a five 
cent paper doll. The remaining 85 cents found its 
way into mother's purse. 

Good-night, I would write more, but must get this 
note mailed to-night. Each and all send love. 

Mother. 



[15] 



1871 



To Walker, in England 

Augusta, Monday evening, August 21st, 1871 
My dear Boy, — The great event since I wrote 
you a \week ago is your Father's Saratoga serenade 
spcechjMvhich he made last Wednesday evening, and 
which he considers, though this of course is in con- 
fidence, a great strike. An immense crowd assembled 
to hear him, and he has been overwhelmed with con- 
gratulations. I think myself he was most happy, and 
perhaps I should be more difficult than almost any- 
one else to please. All the papers have said their say 
about it pro and con according to the tone of the 
journal. . . . No tongue can adequately portray 
my loneliness since I came from Boston the day 
after you sailed. I seem to myself to lead two 
lives entirely distinct from each other — the one 
when I am with your Father, all variety, wide- 
awake, gay ; the other all Aunt Susan, sewing 
machine, shildren. Another telegram we have also 
had this afternoon from Mr. Alexander telling of the 
arrival of the Tripoli at Queenstown only last night. 

' Political speech made by Mr. Blaine at Saratoga Springs 
August 16, 1871, in which he contrasted the economies of the Re- 
publican Administration at Washington with the reckless expendi- 
ture and shameless corruption of the government of New York City 
under Tammany. \Yilliam M. Tweed was arrested for the first time 
October 28th of this year. 

[19] 



LETTERS OF 

Was it not a long passage, and how did you stand it? 
I long to hear, not only this, but that you are well and 
happy, and sure of enjoying all that the liberality of 
your Father had planned for you. 



Augusta, August 29th, '71 
Tuesday evening 

My dear Walker, — I was obliged to cut my 
letter short so unexpectedly last night and so un- 
satisfactorily that I then determined to daily or 
rather, nightly, chronicle hereafter my small beer, so 
that you might in the future have a moi-e faithful if 
not a better record of all our petty family doings. 
Your Father is better. He stays in the open air all 
he can, so every morning after his letters are written, 
we drive. Went yesterday twice, and once to-day. 
To-day we drove out over Western Avenue and round 
by Coombs' mills. Daddy walking two miles of the 
distance and horse of course ditto. We still keep, 
and probably shall for some time to come, the Rock- 
land horse. Mr. Sherman, as I wrote you, is here, 
and trying to get the papers, documents and letters 
together in order for the winter. Thirty boxes and 
bags I think have been brought from the postoffice 
this afternoon. At 4:30 your Father left for Lewis- 
ton, has to meet the State Committee this evening. 
[20] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Will look out for the election ^ rather more closely 
because of the rumors of clanger to the party. To- 
morrow he goes to Boston, and is the next day to 
come home. Will not see Emmons, though I begged 
him to stay over one extra day rather than not do 
it, but he thinks hardening good for boys. 

This mornino; I had a long letter from Cousin 
Abby.^ She is very busy getting her book ready. 
Wrote for me to come up next week and bring Que 
J'aime. 

Thursday evening. 

I am going to send my letter off to-night and have 
but a few minutes left for final words. 

Dear little M fell yesterday and broke her left 
arm, broke it just above the elbow, quite badly. She 
suffers dreadfully with it, and is very nervous, so 
much so that I find it difficult to leave her. She was 
playing at Mr. Swan's at the time and fell from an 
apple tree. She took ether while her arm was set, 
but suffered a great deal. By a most fortunate 
change in his plans your Father had come home in- 

' The Elaine elections were then, as they are to a somewhat less 
extent now, considered as a "barometer" indicating the prospects of 
t!ie political parties in the general Presidential election to follow. 

- ]\Iiss Marv' Abby Dodge, Mrs. Blaine's cousin, who wrote under 
the nom-de-plume of Gail Hamilton. She si)ent many winters with 
]Nfrs. Hlaine in Washington and is referred to in the "Letters" as 
" Cousin Abby," " C. A.," " Miss Dodge," " Gail Hamilton," " G. H.," 
or " The Dodger." 

[21 ] 



LETTERS OF 

stead of going to Boston as he intended, and this 
happened j ust after he arrived. Dear Httle thing, she 
said Emmons minded his so Httle in Washington, 
she thought it would be good fun to break an arm; 
but it is a very different thing when you come to 
try it. 

We have heard from Emmons, who likes his school 
a great deal better. Your Father will send you his 
letter by the despatch bag, so you will soon have it. 
It is the greatest possible comfort to me to find that 
he is going to do well. The Standard has been abus- 
ing your Father in its last two issues, the main cry 
his great wealth. To-day it has three columns cit- 
ing his princely style of living, his retinue of servants, 
and the expensive education he is giving his children 
— one son now traveling in Europe. Gen. Chamber- 
lain ^ has accepted the presidency of Bowdoin College. 
Toby Candor sits here waiting to see your Father ; 
also the parlor full. Aunt Caddy and Emily have 
just come in, and send love. 

Good-by, 

Your devoted. 

Mother. 

* Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who left the professorship of 
rhetoric in Bowdoin Collejje to enlist with the 20th Maine Volunteers 
in the Civil War, breveted Major-General in 1866, and elected three 
times governor of Maine, from 1866 to 1871. 

[22] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Evening. 

My dear Boy, — I have just had a call from Mr. 
Goodenow ^ and his sister, a most elegant looking 
girl. They are on their way to Bangor, but stayed 
over until to-morrow morning to see me. I was sick, 
and could do nothing beyond receiving the visit. 
M is so very far from well that she requires and 
has almost all my time. " Uncle John " hopes to get 
his leave of absence prolonged, and in that case I shall 
be able to show him some attention in Washington. 
This afternoon we received your letter of August 31st. 
Very nice and interesting letters, too. I have read 
them twice and have just enveloped them to Father, 
who will get them to-morrow morning at the Parker 
House. M. cannot quite decide on her doll's hair. 
Alice Farwell had one that she could brush the hair 
on, but Alice Wood's stayed on better. She will decide 
before the next letter. It was Queen Eleanor, wife of 
Edward I. to whom the memorial crosses were erected. 
There were fifteen of them, and they commemorate 
her resting places from Grantham to Westminster. 

The little magnifier came all safe. I must close my 
letter. You are a dear good boy, and your letters 
give us unbounded satisfaction. 

Good-night, and God bless you. 

Mother. 
* John Goodenow, U. S. Minister to Turkey. 
[23] 



LETTERS OF 

Augusta, Sunday evening, 
September 2nd, 1871. 

My dear Walker, — iNIy time has been mostly 
spent since I last wrote, as j'ou may suppose, in 
taking care of M. For two days she suffered 
very much, had two very bad nights, probably the 
bandages were unnecessarily tight. Dr. Brickett 
loosened them, and she has been steadily gaining since 
Friday morning. To-day she has been out driving 
twice, and though very weak, does not complain of 
much pain. To-morrow her arm is to be examined, 
and if all is well with it, I shall feel quite light hearted. 
Dr. Barbour has preached for us to-day ; have been 
out only once, but Aunt Susan has made amends for 
all my deficiencies. Your Father has gone also 
to-night. 

The Standard is all taken up with his affairs. I 
dislike it extremely, but suppose it will not do to let 
all the charges and statements go unanswered. We 
had a nice letter from Emmons this morning ; will 
send it to you by despatch bag, as it tells all about 
his studies. I have no doubt the school is far better 
than it has been since Dr. Taylor's death. Your 
Father also had a very friendly and most excellent 
letter from the President.^ I had no idea that he 

' General Ulysses Simpson Grant, eighteenth President of the 
United States. 

[24] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

would write so good a letter. He wanted to be re- 
membered to you children. We are all longing to 
hear from you, but do not expect our heart's desire 
for a day or two yet. You seem to have gone down 
into the very caverns of silence. M's great solace 
during her illness is her kittens — Tiger and Snow- 
drop. J'aime loves them, but his tender mercies are 
cruel. To-day Tiger took refuge from him in the 
warm ashes of my fire. He did not dare go there, 
so the poor thing had an hour of quiet. Uncle 
William,^ Aunt Abby, Ida and Lucy Cony expect to 
start to-morrow week for Saratoga. They like to 
fly high when they do take the wing. Aunt Emily's ^ 
family are all well; Aunt Caddy exceedingly tried 
with the dog — a Scotch terrier, ugly enough to 
be a pure breed. George represents it is worth a 
hundred dollars. Jim and Wal take care of it, and 
seem to enjoy it much as the Pickwick Club did their 
tall horse when they were going to INIr. Wardle's. 

Monday evening. 

" Out of the depths have I called unto thee " — 

this is all I can think of. Your Father came home 

from town this afternoon, having intercepted the mail 

with your welcome letter and diary, so you must have 

* William Caldwell, Mrs. Blaine's cousin. 

* Mrs. Stinson, Mrs. Blaine's younger sister. 

[25 ] 



LETTERS OF 

got in Saturday instead of Sunday as the Cunard 
gentleman telegraphed your Father. I read the letter 
aloud, Dada the Journal ; both most satisfactory, but 
be sure to write on better paper. That you use is 
odious. You can give up Geneva, of course. I be- 
lieve your Father has written you to this effect. Mrs. 
Stillman — I wrote you, did I not.'' — is the original 
of Euphrosyne in Lothair. How good it seems to 
be once more in communication with you. 

M has had a very suffering day — not so much 
with pain in her arm as pain all over and general 
nervousness. Certainly I put stockings in your bag. 
Have just had time to write these few lines. 

Love from us all; oceans from 

Mother. 

Augusta, September 8th, 1871 
Friday evening. 

My dear Walker, — M's broken arm seems to 

have worked sad woe to my journalizing, as well 

as some other things. I got your Father to write a 

few lines last night, but I am afraid he is not a very 

good detailer of home affairs, and so, although my 

day has been unmarked by events, I will not wait for 

anything more uncommon, but will at once begin a 

new letter by telling you that Aunt Caddy has just 

gone home after spending the evening with us. She 

[26] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

is knitting a stocking of huge dimensions, had eaten 
a very hearty supper, and as the sitting room under 
the combined effect of gashght and wood fire was very 
warm, I was not surprised to see her eagerly count- 
ing the strokes of the clock as it sounded out nine, 
and no less eagerly rolling up her work ; after which 
with a prolonged and final yawn she departed. She 
did not sleep well at all last night, and all her waking 
dreams were of you, stimulated of course, by your 
letter, which your Father read to her at the supper 
table. He and I had the first reading of it in the car- 
riage over on Malta Hill. How delighted we were to 
hear from you I cannot express. Your Father is well 
pleased with you, thinks you outdo him as a traveler. 
He was saying at the supper table that next summer, 
if Emmons wanted to go over to meet you, he should 
make no objection, whereupon Alice insists that he 
told you over and over again to keep away from 
Americans. Surelj^ Emmons is an American. 

Tom Sherman left us this afternoon. Your Father 
expects Tuesday to leave for Pennsylvania. The 
local politics are becoming very interesting. A par- 
tisan warfare is waged between the Journal and the 
Standard, and of course your Father is a mark for 
most of the shafts and honors. Warren Johnson, 
it is reported, has gone over to the Democrats. 
Undoubtedly he thinks Kimball is to be elected. 
[27] 



LETTERS OF 

Heaven send that he may be well punished for his 
lack of faith. To-night your " Dada " takes tea, 
or as I should say, sups, at Sylvanus's.^ We were 
both invited, but I was too tired and lifeless to go. 
M thinks no one so good and handsome as her dear 
and pretty Mum, and when my caresses and services 
for the day are through, little is left me but a recol- 
lection of past fatigues. J'aime I have hardly seen 
for the day. Mary Nolan, the new nurse, proves very 
efficient, and does not permit the earnest little soul 
to come about me half as much as I really want him 
to. He is a great toast on the street, and his pet 
accomplishment is to tell where you have gone. 
" Walker Blaine has gone to Obrope, I tell you." 
This you can hear any hour during the day. Alice 
and he went out into the country for cream this after- 
noon, and returned bringing with them a full grown 
cat. " Tiger " had been missing for a number of 
days, but yesterday his select and cold remains were 
discovered in a shoe box, J'aime having shut him in 
and forgotten him. There was great grief, as you 
may suppose, but it has been a great comfort to 
change his name to Ginevra. 



* Sylvanus Caldwell, Mayor of Augusta, and cousin of Mrs. Blaine. 
Mrs. Sylvanus Caldwell is the "Aunt Hannah" of the Letters. 



[28] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Saturday evening. 

Your Father and I have been this afternoon to see 
Mrs. Lambard. She got home a week ago ; would 
have hked to see you very much. She showed me a 
good many things she had brought home, mostly 
Dresden china. You cannot think how high the par- 
tisan spirit seems to run this election. Your Father 
has just had sent him from down town a Democratic 
sheet which that party in lack of a daily paper have 
just issued. Two thirds of it certainly is devoted to 
him. Judge Rice ^ and Mr. Vickery are their candi- 
dates for the Legislature. How glad I shall be when 
the City and State are well carried Monday evening. 
We had a letter from Emmons this morning, very 
brief ; he says he is too busy to write, really seems 
to be studying hard. It is occasion for unbounded 
happiness on my part that he is happy and doing well 
at Andover. 

Sunday evening. 

A very quiet day. Out this morning to hear Dr. 

Caruthers, Father with me, to church. Returning, 

he walked with Mr. Farwell and Aunt Cad rode with 

me. Aunt C has forgotten " Pie," and the dog is as 

* Richard Drury Rice, of Augusta, appointed Judge of the Supreme 
Court of Maine in 18.52. He resigned the office in 1863 to accept the 
presidency of the Portland and Kennebec, now the Maine Central 
R. R. He was also one of the builders and a vice-president of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. 

[29] 



LETTERS OF 

a shadow which flitteth away, so overwhelming is her 
interest in the election to-morrow. It seems to be of 
vital consequence to her, but in reality it would make 
no difference in her basket or her store whether 
Perham ^ or Kimball governed the State. But I am 
immensely interested, for I feel there has been a 
deliberate effort made to break down your Father. 
Nothing at the bottom of it, I presume, but envy. 

Monday evening. 
Well, Walker, the election is over, and well over. 
Every ward in this city is carried by Republicans, — 
a thing which I think has hardly ever been before. 
This city is carried by 237 ; other towns have thrown 
very large votes. Gramp ^ voted among the first, 
fearing that he might die during the day if he put 
it off. Poor old Prince has been out all day, and 
still is going his weary rounds. Father is at the 
Journal office awaiting the returns. He expects to 
be out very late. By good rights this letter ought 
to have gone on the 10 o'clock train to-night, but 
Joe ^ and Sue ^ have been in, and I could not bear to 
send it without a closing word. 

* Sidney Perham, Governor of Maine, and later member of 
Congress. 

^ Mr. Sewall, Mr. Manley's grandfather. 

' Joseph Homan iManley, of Augusta, and IVIrs. Manley. INIr. 
Manley was chainnan of the Republican State Committee and later 
member of the National Committee for Maine. 

[30] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Everyone congratulated your Father on the elec- 
tion in this city as a personal compliment. How he 
would feci to have it telegraphed all over the country, 
as it was to be, that Augusta, the home of Morrill ^ 
and Blaine, had gone Democratic. But I must close, 
for I mean after all to get this letter off. 

Good-by my dearest boy. Everybody sends love to 
you. I cannot particularize. 

Most devotedly, 

MOTHEE. 

Home, September 12th, 1871. 

My deab, Walkek, — We have had a great treat 

this afternoon, namely, your first and second batch 

of London letters, the last date of which was August 

30th. Father expected to go to Boston to-day, but 

as his stay is to be quite a serious one — two weeks 

at least in Pennsylvania — and as there were a great 

many telegrams concerning election to receive and be 

sent away, he concluded to defer his departure until 

to-morrow, so he was here to read out your letters. 

First they were read in the spare chamber, Susan, 

M and I the audience. When they were about half 

through Alice and Que J'aime added themselves to 

the circle — the former very indignant that we had 

* Senator Lot M. Morrill, Secretary of the Treasury under President 
Grant, became a resident of Augusta in 1S41, forming a law partner- 
ship with Senator James W. Bradburj' and Judge Rice. 

[31] 



LETTERS OF 

not sent for her to hear the beginning of the narra- 
tion — then George was told to put old Prince into 
harness and go for Aunt Caddy. Of course she was 
more than ready, so at supper we had reading No. 2, 
and Aunt Hannah coming in during the evening, there 
was a third reading, your Father officiating every 
time. We all think you are doing splendidly ; seeing 
a great deal, and describing all to us with great 
accuracy and freshness. But do not write any more 
on both sides of that paper. Your Father says, use 
it, if you wish, but write only on one side. You have 
no idea how impatiently we want to read and how 
slowly we have to feel our way. I have been up to 
the dam with your Father to-day and also drove 
around town a little. The election, as you will see 
by the papers your Father has sent you this evening, 
has turned out splendidly — a grand vindication of 
your dearest dad, that of this town is. All the capi- 
tal of the Democratic party seemed to be centered in 
him. 

Thursday morning. 
Dear Walker, — I have just settled with ]\Iary 
White, who goes home on a two weeks' visit, and find 
that I owe her so much that I have just $1.85 left in 
my purse. Hope you feel richer than I do this morn- 
ing, with all Europe on your shoulders. Your Father 
[32] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

got off yesterday noon ; started in his usual hurry. 
At the last moment there was the key of his strong 
box missing; was fortunate enough to find it care- 
lessly left on the clock. Think of that! At the 
Journal office there was proof to correct, cars mean- 
time in. Then there was the bank, and at every 
corner some one running to stop him. However, he 
got off cheerful and bright, for he feels that he has 
conquered gloriously in this town, and I have already 
had two notes from him, one sent from Brunswick 
and the other from Portland. Be sure your journal 
will be faithfully preserved. 

Augusta, September 17th, 1871 
in the afternoon. 

My deae. Walker, — If I could get a few minutes' 

rehef from attendance upon M I should be too 

happy. All day we have been inseparable. I have 

read to her, have conversed with her, and lastly have 

written you a letter for her since six o'clock this 

morning. We have got Aunt Fortune married to 

Mr. Brunt,^ and Ellen knows that Alice is going to 

die, and now at last Aunt Susan has been knocked up 

from her bed and has taken up the tale. After one 

chapter particularly devoted to John Humphreys, 

M. said to me, " I suppose Mr. John is about such 

' A character in "The Wide Wide World." 
VOL. 1—3 [ 33 ] 



LETTERS OF 

a looking young man as Walker." " Whether he was 
or was not," said I, " I have no doubt he was very 
interesting looking." " Well," said she, " I do not 
think he could be any pleasanter than our Walker." 

Home looks very pleasant tliis afternoon, though 
it sadly misses the three Blaine men. To think of 
J'aime being the only son with whom I can take sweet 
counsel ! Your Father is, I suppose, to-day either in 
EHzabeth or Pittsburg, as I had a telegram from 

him yesterday at P . He has pushed on so he 

may get home sooner. At Boston he saw Mr. Fisher 
and Mr. Caldwell ; had long interviews with both 
gentlemen ; everytliing exceedingly vague and un- 
satisfactory ; still I have great, the greatest, con- 
fidence in your father surmounting all the discour- 
agements of the situation. 

Augusta, September 19. 
Tuesday evening. 

My dear Walker, — When I went out to the 

doorstep this afternoon to pick up the mail which 

Lebbins had carelessly flung into the yard, I was 

delighted to see the end of a bluish foreign envelope 

sticking out — a sure sign of a letter from you. And 

by the way, one of the things about your letters which 

pleases your Father especially is the address. I often 

see him showing it and challenging admiration for 

it. Just as I have got seated at the front parlor 

[34] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

window prepared to work my slow and laborious way 
through the first sheet — which you will remember 
was written all over on both sides — Aunt Cad comes 
in, congratulating herself upon her great good luck 
in always coming in upon your letters, whereas Aunt 
Emily says she might come down every day in the 
week and she should never be here to hear one read- 
ing. Interruption number 1 was put up with, but 
when number 2, arriving in the shape of Lizzie Thorns, 
was seen, patience failed, and I beat a retreat to the 
sitting room. Here, after I had, I am ashamed to 
say, snubbed Aunt Susan for coming in, with some 
irrelevant question, I was permitted to go with you 
on the two or three days' travel you had sent us. All 
the places associated with Mary and her brother 
Murray seem full of significance to me, because I have 
within a few years read Froude, who bestows, of 
course, great care and research on the Stuart part 
of the history. I greatly miss the enjoyment of 
reading your letters with your Father. We have, since 
they began to come, read them together, and gener- 
ally alone, and sympathizing with you and with each 
other to the fullest, we have felt united over you to 
a wonderful degree. Always may you give as much 
joy and satisfaction to our hearts as you have in the 
way you have improved the first two weeks of your 
stay in Europe. But to go on with my narrative, 
[35] 



LETTERS OF 

when I had got through, Aunt Cad took them up, 
reading and rereading every word, for she pays her- 
self the compliment of thinking that she has a great 
deal to do with your first start in life, and that you 
are, in some sort, her own product. 

Thursday evening. 

I am really almost mortified when I think what 
commonplace family affairs I write about, and here 
begins another page of what old Mr. Mulliken would 
call " the same old cat with a different tail," though 
I perceive my figure does not in the least hold 
together. 

The afternoon mail brought a letter from Gen. 
Schenck ^ full of rec^ret that he was not in England 
to meet you ; saying that he remembered you per- 
fectly, and that he expects to leave the Continent to- 
day, and that if anj^where within his jurisdiction after 
this time, you must not fail to report yourself to him. 
Uncle Sylvanus has been in, with Charlie's picture, 
just sent. Again, good-night, — I hope I shall not do 
as I did last night, wake up after one sound nap, 
think about you, whom I fancied from your letter, 
lonely and homesick ; deluge my poor pillow with a 
perfect flood of tears, and thoroughly waked thereby 
have finally to get up, light the gas, and pursue sleep, 

* Gen. Robert C. Schenck, for some time member of Congress 
and later U. S. Minister to England, 1870-187G. 
[3G] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

the rude sailor boy's blessing, through the pages of 
a dull story. 

The mail also brought me a letter from your 
Father, written Sunday afternoon, at Elizabeth, 
where he was wandering over coal fields and thinking 
sadly of his mother.^ 

Auj^usta, September 28, 1871. 

My dear Walkek, — Tuesday evening, just be- 
fore eight, I got a telegram from your Father saying 
that he was on the train due at that hour, and would 
expect to find George at the depot. . . . The night 
was stormy, and George had been dismissed till the 
next day. Of course there was not a bit of meat in 
the house. However, it was everything to have him 
coming home. ]\Iary flow down the lane, and George's 
father came to the rescue and harnessed. A good 
supper was knocked up with the help of Mons, and 
at fifteen minutes past eight your dear dad was 
comfortably housed, sitting before a blazing fire in 
the back parlor. He had spent Monday night at 
Hamilton in company with the Stowes, having, of 
course, a most brilliant time, Harriet Beecher being 
in one of her most communicative, social moods. 
Emmons went back to Andover Monday morning 
early, looking, your father says, as well as he ever 
saw him in his hfe, and appearing like a good boy 
and a faithful scholar. He thinks he shall lay up 

* Mr. Blaine's mother died the p^e^^ous spring at Brownsville, Pa. 
[37] 



LETTERS OF 

on his allowance! One hundred dollars is due him 
ah-cady, though, of course, he has not paid his 
board. 

Augusta, Thursday afternoon, 
October 5th 

My dear Walker, — It is a very close sultry 
afternoon, and although there is not a particle of 
fire in the furnace, I find myself very uncomfortable 
sitting at my sewing in my room, so I have come 
down into the back parlor for the sake of the fresher 
air. In the library Mr. Sherman is diligently at 
work making an accurate list of committees, together 
iwith the resignations of new Members and the 
V i^' outs " — a very nice job indeed. And I heard him 
\' tell your Father yesterday he thought he had gone 
over the names in his anxiety some thirty times. In 
the kitchen Mary and Maggie sit at their sewing, 
and in the nursery Bedlam under the generalship of 
Alice, has evidently broken loose. There are gathered 
Que J'aime and M and Alice and EHza, and as their 
leader stands in awe of no one, the liberty I permit 
soon becomes license. Susan has gone over to Nancy's 
to call on Mrs. Pike. Out in the yard George plods 
away raking the leaves — a perfectly foolish business, 
as they come from the trees faster than he can pos- 
sibly clear them from the walks. Your dear Father, 
I am happy to say, has been out for a walk, and as he 
[ 38 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

turned his face down townward, I am in hopes his 
admiring constituency will have the pleasure of see- 
ing him. I think perhaps he never stood so high with 
them before, certainly he never stood higher. This 
morning I drove down town with Que J'aime to get 
the darling some boots, also to canvass the field a little 
before making the change in his clothes ; called at 
Aunt Emily's and took her down with us. At half 
past 12, just as we were turning our faces homeward, 
3^our Father hailed us from Mr. Hendee's to come over 
and have J'aime's picture taken. His dress was torn 
and his boots shabby, but I hope we got something 
that will at least remind you of the little brother. 
Your Father also sat, and Alice, w^ho came in on her 
way from school, wanted to, but it was too late. 

This morning we had a letter from Uncle Jacob ^ 
saying that he had sent the girl with the broken arm 
fifty pounds of Delaware grapes which she was to 
share with Alice and J'aime. She is getting along 
finely, does not even wear a sling. Since I wrote you, 
your Father has returned from Boston. He was there 
only one day, but in that time bought me blankets, 
two fenders, got my mended jewelry from Shreve 
& Stanwood where it has been ever since you sailed, 
and to my great surprise he got home on the 4 o'clock 
train yesterday afternoon, his beloved Kinglake 

* Jacob Stanwood, Mrs. Blaine's older brother. 
[39] 



LETTERS OF 

(Crimea) still accompanying him. You see, Walker, 
I write you the most trivial details of our life. I go 
out but little, and even if I went more, my narra- 
tives would still run on the same lay. I wrote just 
such letters to your Father when he was away as you 
are, and he said the very sight of the home names was 
a refreshment to him. Your Father thinks it not 
advisable at all for you to go to Germany with the 
Washburn boys. As soon as we hear from you in 
Paris he will write to the Minister ^ about you. 

Augusta, October 8th, 

Sunday evening. 

My dear Walker, — I have just written a note 
to Mr. Hale,^ giving him Cousin Abby's address. 
He wishes to send her cards for his approaching 

' Elihu B. Washbume of Illinois. Mr. Washburne was one of the 
few foreign ministers who stayed in Paris during the Commune. The 
late Hon. R. R. Hitt of IlHnois, chairman of the Foreign AlTairs 
Committee, said of him in the House, April 17, 1894: "All the other 
diplomats, every one of the lords, and counts and marquises hurried 
away ; Washburne stayed — stayed through it all. The stars and 
garters all disappeared, but the stars and stripes stood fast. His house 
was pierced with shot. The bombshells fell all about the Legation, 
but he never failed one day nor one hour from his post. He had the 
respect and confidence of both the French and German governments 
when they trusted no one else. For weeks he was the only means of 
communication between the contending forces, a pure politician 
turned diplomat, a dignified, courageous, discreet American minister." 

^ Hon. Eugene Hale, at that time representing tlie Fourth Maine 
District in the National Congress, later U. S. Senator, married the 
daughter of Senator Zachariah Chandler of Michigan. 

[40] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

wedding, which comes off on December 31st. I heard 
from him yesterday — the first time for a long while. 
He says he is very much in love, and I suppose that 
must excuse him. Also, I have written to Cousin 
Abby, from whom I had a bright and racy letter tliis 
morning. 

Monday evening, before tea. 

Another day has come and gone, dear Walker, 
since I made the above miserable attempt at writing 
you a home letter, and yet no line from you. A week 
yesterday morning since we heard from you. Your 
Father sits in the parlor toasting his feet over the 
fire, a suspicious dampness having settled upon them 
in the garden, where he and Tom Sherman have been 
exercising or exorcising, which you will. I have just 
been saying to him — "Am I not better to thee than 
ten sons? " " Yes," said he, " and if you are better 
than twenty, I still want the sons." I thought he 
was uneasy about you, but he says he is not; still, 
my dear boy, be particular to send off a letter if of 
ever so few lines, by frequent mails. 

Your Father and Mr. Sherman are desperately 
busy over the committees. It is the secret of the 
power of the Speaker, and like everything else worth 
anything, is a rock of offense and a block of stum- 
bling to many, though to others the chief corner 
stone. 

[41] 



LETTERS OF 

Friday your Father expects to go to Boston to 
participate in the honors to be paid the President, 
all of which he will see and a part of which be, as 
he is himself the city's guest. Tuesday he expects 
simply to come through town with the President on 
his way to Bangor. The President stops, I believe, 
about twenty minutes only. He, your Father, hates 
it, but I suppose it would not do for the President 
to come into Maine and the Speaker not be here to 
see him. Mr. Morrill gets rid of the whole thing 
by starting to Kansas to see M . . . But I sup- 
pose tliis information will be more interesting to 
Mons than to you. I have had a short letter from 
that youth — as Mrs. Prescott called him — Friday 
afternoon. The weather had been warmer, so they 
had had a very good chance at baseball. This was 
really the gist of the letter. I sent him, or rather, 
Mr. Sherman did, at my request, on Saturday the 
Anabasis and Virgil. 

Do you get the Kennebec Journal.^ Your Dada 
says he sends it to you every week. I try to keep 
you posted about everything, but happily little in the 
shape of news occurs ; no news is good news, you 
know. We want to hear from you very much at 
Paris. Do not fail to chronicle every little thing 
about yourself as well as the larger things. It in- 
terests me to hear of your cravats. I think of you 
[42] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

constantly; never wake in the night that my first 
impression is not of you. 

Be a good boy. Good-night, 

Most devotedly, 

MOTHEE. 

Augusta, October 14, 1871. 
Saturday morning, just after breakfast. 

My dear Waucer, — I got as far as the date of 
a letter to you last Thursday afternoon, but just 
as I got so far. Aunt Emily came in, which of course 
delayed me for the time, and everything here being 
very cheerful, she concluded to stay to supper, and 
when that ceremony was over, I found that no trains 
were to leave for no one knew how long, all culverts 
being washed away by the vast quantities of rain, 
more having fallen in a given time at the hospital 
than there has been any record of for the last twenty 
years. So, though it hurt my feehngs terribly, I 
was compelled to let the mail start for Europe with- 
out any missive good or bad, for my dear boy. The 
heavy storm broke up all the water works of Mr. 
Johnson back of the State House, falhng do^vn in 
floods ; the water bringing with it any quantity of 
earth, has thoroughly altered the topography of the 
country about Canada Brook, filhng the hollow and 
making of it a large flat. There, — I 'm glad to be 
[ 43 ] 



LETTERS OF 

through with that sentence, having been interrupted 
during its laborious construction more times than I 
have fingers. 

Your Father goes to Boston to-day at 12 to meet 
the President. He stops at the St. James, and has 
written Emmons to meet him there this evening. I 
have had a letter from him this morning full of the 
Chicago calamity. 

M and J'aime are playing on the sofa. The 
latter has been trying all the morning for a cat. I 
heard him before breakfast on the porch calling for 
George to go out and find him a cat. There are so 
many on the premises that they go out very much 
as one would hunt an elephant in Africa. Sure 
enough, he came in a few minutes ago hugging up 
a very fair specimen of the feline race. This is a 
specimen of M's manoeuvring to get the kitten : — 
" O J'aime, you be the mother and play that you are 
out shopping and buy something for the baby's birth- 
day, a little gold chain or something. I '11 be the 
nurse and stay at home and take care of the baby. 
Here, darling, come to nursey." And J'aime, over- 
powered by the argument, surrenders, and M sits 
on the sofa fondling and enjoying to her heart's 
content. 

I don't know how much you may have heard of the 
Chicago fire. From the prominent newspaper ac- 
[ 44 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

counts, alas, there never was, and God grant there 
never may be anything Hke it. 

Sunday afternoon, October 15. 

All the family, Eliza and J'aime excepted, went 
out to church to-day. Heard Professor Barbour ^ 
preach on the Chicago fire, after which a contribu- 
tion was taken up. Your Father has already sub- 
scribed and paid $250., and to-day Alice had $5. and 
I put in $20 more, and again I shall give when they 
take up collections for old residents of Augusta. Un- 
expectedly a double dividend or something of that 
kind came in yesterday morning from the Eastern 
Express, and I think it a direct intimation of provi- 
dence that we should give it to Chicago ; anyhow, it 
is going that way. Then we shall send off large boxes 
of clothing, new and half worn. Think of the winter 
which is before those crowds of people, — any quan- 
tity of work but no shelter. In five years — your 
Father thinks less — Chicago will be rebuilt. 

I drove your Father to the station yesterday at the 
usual hour ; whipped up to Harrington's and bought 
him some black gloves, as I did not think a hat in 
mourning and colored gloves looked well together. 
Came back to the depot and found that the cars were 
thirty minutes late at least, so Dada and I whipped up 
the old nag and came bark for a lunch. I flew 
' The Rev. W. M. Barbour, D.D., of Yale College. 
[ ^'^ ] 



LETTERS OF 

around and got up a cup of tea, cold meat and toast, 
a delicious pie. M and J'aime crowded in to the 
feast. I ate and waited on the others, and when in 
twenty minutes we started again for the train the 
whole family agreed that they had dined. This time 
we and the train — a very heavy one — reached the 
starting point together, and your Father on enter- 
ing the Pullman had the pleasure of being greeted 

by Mrs. F , never a favorite of his, who, sick 

and alone, had left Belfast in the morninfir startincr 
for Washington. I was sorry for him, not for her 
mind you, but could afford no help. So I took in 
Mr. Bradbury ^ and started for home ; occupied my- 
self in coming up the hill, while Mr. Bradbury dis- 
coursed, in trying to decide which was the slowest, 
he, I, or old Prince. As I had only a lonesome after- 
noon before me, decided to stop and call at Aunt 
Emily's. Found them just sitting down to dinner, 
a very nice dinner, roast chicken, etc., but did not 
join, though pressed to do so. I suppose Mons and 
your Father are to-day at the St. James. Tuesday 
the President goes to Bangor, stops here about 20 
minutes. I shall go to the depot and get a passing 
word with your dear Dada, who is to keep with the 
President till Friday. 

* Hon. James W. Bradbury, Senator from Maine, 1847-1853. 

[46] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Monday evening, 8 o'clock. 

I have heard from your Father this afternoon. He 
reached Boston at 8-1^ Saturday evening. Found 
Emmons and an alderman waiting for him. Saw the 
President, the P. M., Mrs. Grant and NelHe and the 
boy. Breakfasted Avith them, then went to Dr. Put- 
nam's church, Roxbury. Emmons and the Grant 
boy went with Collector Russell to attend service on 
the School Ship. I believe I never was in Boston on 
Sunday that Mr. Russell did not appear to invite us 
to that School Ship. At six they were to dine at 
Mr. Hooper's. 

Que J'aime fell Saturday morning and nearly broke 
his precious nose, catching his feet in one of the 
thousand holes in the old nursery carpet, so I have 
had it pulled up in a hurry. 

We took in $250 in our church yesterday, the 
Episcopal $700, the Universalists $350; but many 
of our society subscribed on the papers, as your 
Father, Mr. Johnson and the Potters. O the suffer- 
ing, the appalling suffering of the Chicago panic ! 

Most devotedly. 

Mother. 

Augusta, Thursday evening, 
October 19. Before tea. 

IMy DE.\ii Walkeb, — The evening for sending off 

a letter to you has again come round, and not one 

[47] 



LETTERS OF 

word have I written. But a few lines chroniclins the 
uneventful days since INIonday I will at least write. 
As usual, when I begin a letter to you, Emily has 
just come in, but as she has turned aside into the 
parlor, I will leave Aunt Susan to entertain her while 
I sit on in the Hbrary and write. The little family 
is well. M. has been to school all day; is fast 
getting back to her health before the break, though 
the stiff arm is a perpetual reminder of how hard it 
is for man to make God's work good when we are so 
unfortunate as to mar his perfect mechanism. She 
and J'aime are in the kitchen keeping warm and listen- 
ing to Eliza, who is crooning over some old Irish tales 
to them. 

Father is in Bangor, accompanying the President. 
I took M. and J'aime and drove as near the depot 
as I dared Tuesday afternoon. There was a great 
crowd, and Grant was as miserable as is his wont 
on such occasions. I did not see him, as I sat high 
up the hill in the carriage, neither did I see the 
other dignitaries who were present. But I saw, best 
of all, your Father, who, as soon as he had introduced 
the President to Mayor Evclyth, hunted us up and 
spent a delightful quarter of an hour at the carriage. 
Joe says there were many comparisons drawn between 
the bearing of the President and the Speaker. Prob- 
ably the latter never stood higher in the affections of 
[48] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

his fellow citizens than he does at this moment. After 
an embarrassed stay of fifteen minutes, the cars left. 
I think from the newspaper accounts that the whole 
celebration at Bangor must be a great success. Your 
Father told me that he dined at Mr. Hooper's Sun- 
day evening with Agassiz, Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell 
and other savants; enjoyed it extremely. 

When the show was over Aunt Caddie came down, 
to tea, and we were fearfully disappointed not to 
receive a letter from you. Your Father could not 
believe that I had none for him, and now as late as 
Tuesday afternoon, none has come. You cannot tell 
how anxious it makes me not to hear. I knew when 
I gave my consent to your going to Europe that 
necessarily anxious days and nights must be mine, 
but if you are well, you ought at least twice a week 
to send off a few lines. It is dehghtful — nothing 
could be more so, to have long letters from you, but 
a line would keep me from imagining all sorts of 
disasters. 

A letter came from Mr. Hale Tuesday. He is laid 
up with a lame leg ; got hurt trying to get on a car 
at Portland ; cannot be in Bangor, as any risk now 
endangers the limb for life. Also have had letters 
from Mary Wilson and Martha, asking to be taken 
into service next winter ; also from James Jackson ; 
nothing from Robert. As is my custom, I dread to 
VOL. I —4 [ 40 ] 



LETTERS OF 

take up the gay life in Washington. Shall like if 
no doubt when my dresses are made and I am well 
initiated. I suppose you see by the American papers 
all the Catacazy ^ gossip. I don't think his wife has 
anything to do with the trouble, as it is really all 
diplomatic, but it seems very hard on her. 

O Walker, that Chicago calamity grows ever more 
heartbreaking. Five hundred children they say — • 
though I do not believe it — have been born in the 
open air. A great many, happily, have not lived. 

Good-night, and God bless you, 

Devotedly, 

MOTHEE. 

Augusta, October 23. 
My deae Walkee, — This is a summer day with 
us, no wrappings needed, a haze like that of Indian 
summer hanging over all the out door world. Your 
Father sits here at the table toiling away over his 
committees. Hard, hard work! As fast as he gets 
them arranged, just so fast some after considera- 
tion comes up which disarranges not one but many, 
and over tumbles the whole row of bricks. It is a 
matter in which no one can help him. 

' Constantin de Catacazy, Russian Minister, recalled at request of 
the U. S. for "his personal abuse of fjfovernment officials" and "per- 
sistent interferences . . . with the relations between the U. S. and 
other powers. " (President Grant's Third Annual Message.) 

[50] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

All the family is as usual this morning. What 
your Father and I arc doing you know. Susan is, 
I judge from the odor, cake making. M. has gone 
off hanging on the arm of Maudie, precisely as she 
did " before the fall " ; J'aime is out with Eliza shuf- 
fling through the autumn leaves ; Alice at school ; 
and the girls, where all New England sisters of toil 
— to use Mrs. Dalton's term — are to-day, at the 
■washtub. The doorbell has been ringing the whole 
morning, your Father seeing not one in twenty who 
call. So now you can picture to yourself the menage 
precisely as it stands. 

Saturday was made memorable by the arrival of 
your first Paris letter. You cannot think how 
anxious we were to hear. As I told you in my last, 
your Father could not believe that I had not a letter 
for him when I met him Tuesday, still he would not 
permit me to express the least anxiety; but when 
he came Friday afternoon and still no letter, he could 
not quite conceal his own anxiety. Of course we cal- 
culated for the despatch bag, and I should have 
allowed for one day more before quite giving up, 
but when I came out of my room at the ringing of 
the breakfast bell Saturday morning, I was greeted 
by the joyful words — "a letter of the longest kind 
from Walker ! " Down we sat at the table, and while 
I poured coffee and tea and otherwise waited on the 
[51] 



LETTERS OF 

children, your Father read ; then when he had read 
about half, I took the manuscript and read out while 
he ate his breakfast. With thankful hearts we read 
of your getting to Paris and among friends. Now I 
shall feel entirely differently than I have while you 
were in London entirely isolated. We like your 
arrangement about school very much. Of course 
it is an experiment, but I hope it will work satisfac- 
torily; at any rate, you will not fail to master 
French. 

Friday morning I had a telegram from your Father 
saying he would not be at home until afternoon. He 
had left Bangor the night before with the President 
and gone through to Portland, then after a wearisome 
procession, at one o'clock he took leave of His Ex- 
cellency and set his face homewards, and here he now; 
is and here he expects to stay for at least a week. 
I suppose there never was anything like the time they 
had in Bangor ; the speeches were good as they could 
be, underlying the speeches the best of feeling. Hos- 
pitality flowed like a river, and not one untoward 
circumstance marred the perfect whole. Your Father 
stopped with Mr. Hamlin,^ and was obliged to borrow 
his host's dress coat to wear to one dinner and recep- 
tion. Don't you think he must have looked funny.? 

* Hannibal Hamlin of Maine; U. S. Senator, and Vice-President 
in President Lincoln's first term. 

[52] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

As Hannibal never wears coats of any other cut, of 
course he had one in reserve for himself. 

We are still continually sympathizing with Chi- 
cago. The M's got back to the city Saturday even- 
ing. Sunday night they went to bed; were called 
up about an hour after midnight, and taking what 
clothing they could carry in their arms, fled for 
their lives. One hundred and twenty took refuge 
in the house where they found shelter. There they 
stayed for a few days, sleeping anywhere where 
they could improvise a bed and sharing with each 
other whatever they could obtain. Now they are 
three miles out of the city, will stay there for the 
present. 

This afternoon Aunt Susan has been to the vestry 
to devise ways and means for sending clothes to Wis- 
consin and Michigan to the burned out people there. 
Nothing can exceed the misery and desolation of those 
regions. 

Your Father is waiting to take my letter to the 
postoffice, so I must say good-night to my dear boy. 
I long to see you — no words can express how much. 
I have every confidence that you will not abuse your 
Father's indulgence. If you make any mistake, be 
sure to write me or him all about it. Do not be 
afraid under any circumstances of giving us ycmr 
fullest confidence. When your Father was in Bangor 
[53] 



LETTERS OF 

he saw a great deal of Rear Admiral Alden.^ He sails 
very soon for Europe — takes out General Sherman. 
His ship is the Wabash, the flagship of the European 
squadron. He has invited you to go with him, but 
your Father felt obliged to dedine because he wants 
you to improve your stay in Paris by the acquisition 
of French. Good-night, be a good boy, and Heaven 
bless and keep you, — 

MOTHEE. 

Augusta, November 12, 1871. 
My dear Walker, — As you see by the date, 
this is Sunday morning, and a small portion of my 
large family is just filing out to church — Susan 
and Alice. Real genuine and deep snow covers the 
ground, and as the best carriage is essentially a 
summer bird, and the old admits all the mud and 
slush to their dresses, they walk. INIeanwhile I sit 
at home in my own chamber at the east window and 
write to my dear boy in Paris. I think how the very 
last time I went to church he also went to the American 

» James Alden, U. S. N., who led F,irra<7ut's fleet at the Battle of 
Mobile Bay. In 1871, at Admiral Aldeu's invitation. Gen. W. T. Sher- 
man, then General of the Army, with the consent of the President and 
Secretary of War, accompanied him for a crnise in the Mediterranean 
on the U. S. Frigate Wabash. General Sherman arranged to be gone 
five months but made the condition that he should be in readiness to 
return within thirty days' notice by telegram. — The Sherman Letters; 
edited by Rachel Sherman Thorndike. 1894. 

[54] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Chapel in Paris. The next Sunday morning long be- 
fore the bells were ringing the little sister was here, 
and of course public devotions were and are sus- 
pended for a season. This morning she lies here on 
the bed, quite a girl I assure you. The only other 
room occupant is a dreadful trial to me. I call her 
everything I can think of — Goody, a Witch, a Crone, 
an Old Hag, a Circe, a Fateful Sister; in fact, she 
is only a nurse, but if you will transpose the n into 
a c you will hit her character much better. I have 
had seven children, but I never longed before with all 
my heart to be well enough to wait on myself. Her 
name is Burns, and she says one of my boys used to 
drive her cow home from pasture for her. Of course 
it was Emmons, I am morally certain you never did 
anything of the kind. Just here comes a rush. The 
door flies open as though a whirlwind had set its 
shoulder against it, and J'aime projects himself into 
the room, — almost as fat as Emmons, growing hand- 
somer every day, and fascinating by every word he 
speaks. 

I have little to chronicle beside the quiet annals 
of a convalescent's room. George's grandmother is 
dead. She died Friday afternoon. As she was very 
old and very crazy, so much so that the family often 
feared for their lives, there did not seem to be any 
good reason why they should send to me for flowers, 
[55] 



LETTERS OF 

but there they were, my dehcate chrysanthemums, 
blooming in my vestibule windows, and the eternal 
fitness of things, to their comprehension, required 
that they should fade and die on granny's coffin, and 
Susan cut them off untimely. Poor flowers, high- 
bred things, I really felt for them in their uncon- 
genial end! 

Father left for New York Wednesday. I could 
hardly let him go, I needed his reviving society so 
much, but he had wool and cotton manufacturers to 
meet in Boston ; dinners, breakfasts and luncheons, 
all or some, to give and take in New York, and 
over and above all pressures to resist or permit 
of congressional committees. He had to go, but felt 
that my desire to keep him was all right and natural, 
so, with a man's appreciation of a woman's nature, 
he promised to buy silk dresses for M. and Alice, 
to say nothing of half a dozen for myself. When I 
look at the bed and the little heap of flannel on it, 
laces, silks, feathers and gew-gaws of every descrip- 
tion resolve themselves into prcposterousness ; but 
your Father is strong of will and I am weak, and 
he is determined that I shall be in society this winter, 
and I know I shall. Very few women with a baby 
two weeks old would sit up and write a letter — I 
never expect to have a daughter-in-law to do it, — 
but there is something within which forces me up, 
[56] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

recuperativenesss, I suppose it is, for I remember an 
old country doctor telling me, when I was a year older 
than Flo Gibbs on her birthday, that I had more 
recuperative power than he had ever seen in any 
other person. Since your Father left I have heard 
from him several times. He spent Thursday even- 
ing at Aunt Eliza's, — everyone pleasant and pleased 
to see him, but he sighs after his own bright fire- 
side, indescribably dear to him. You cannot think 
how interesting all your letter was to me. I enjoy 
descriptions of public objects, but infinitely more the 
least thing about yourself and your personal sur- 
roundings. Your birds elicited a great cry — " Two 

canaries, mother ! " I recollect the H girls 

very well, though I never was introduced to them. 
Their dress at Willard's was very nondescript. I 
well remember their red slippers, also I think they 
wore red satin jerkins, or something of that sort. 

Your Father will be dehghted to find that you are 
getting under headway in French. Let nothing keep 
you from earnest application. O how fond I was of 
study when I was your age! I never had any gift 
at writing, but other gifts I certainly had. In this 
deficiency I am sorry to say that Mons is my own 
child. He writes me little, short, unsatisfactory 
letters, usually mostly taken up with acknowlcdgiiig 
a letter of my own, and ending always one way. 
[57] 



LETTERS OF 

According to his own story he is a perfect Mussul- 
man for prayers — the evening bell invariably calling 
him away from his letter. When you receive tliis 
letter he will probably be at home spending his 
Thanksgiving vacation. The Wyman children are 
getting ready for him. I see they give Alice two 
apples every day. 

Greatly to your Father's discomfort, I cannot go 
on until after the holidays. On this I take my 
stand, and he has to submit. He will sleep in the 
house, have a servant or two, and take his meals at 
Wormley's,^ and the menage will open with the New 
Year. 

Good-by now. If this does not hurt me, I will add 
to my letter to-morrow. Can see Eliza hustling 
J'aime into the house in slippers, his ruffles en des- 
habille and a Paris sacque on his shoulders. He got 
out for a snow-ball. Think of that, November 12th. 

Monday afternoon, 4-i. 
Dear Walker, — I resume my letter of yesterday, 
though I have little more that is new to tell. Have 
just had the pleasure of reading two letters from 
your Father, one written yesterday afternoon and 
the other in the evening. This seems very quick 

' " Wormley's," a hotel on the southwest corner of H and Fifteenth 
Streets. 

[58] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

time from New York. He does not expect to reach 
home before the very close of the week. The Presi- 
dent's whole family, General and Senator Sherman,^ 
are there to see the Wabash sail. They had been to 
see Lord Dundreary by the same actor you saw in 
London ; ^ said it seemed to bring you very near. 
Was exceedingly anxious to get your letter. I sent 
it to him by the early mail of the morning. 

The children have been out all this afternoon mak- 
ing a snow man. In everything of this kind Alice 
is really artistic and this afternoon she has surpassed 
herself. The baby is crying, so I have got to get off 
my letter at once, so goodby. As soon as your 
Father comes to instruct me in the mysteries of the 
despatch bag, I will send Bret Harte and periodicals. 
Now good-by, 

Devotedly, 

Mother. 

November 26, 1871. 
Sunday morning. 

My dear Walker, — A half hour alone with the 
little sister while she takes her nap gives me an op- 

' Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, General Sherman's brother. 

- The elder Sothern enjoyed a tremendous vogue in those days in 
the part of Lord Dundreary in "Our American Cousin," by Tom 
Taylor, first produced in 18'j8 at Laura Keene's l^heatre in New York. 
It was during a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's 
Theatre, Washington, that President Lincoln was assassinated by 
Wilkes Booth, April 14, 18Gj. 

[59] 



LETTERS OF 

portunity of at least commencing a letter to you. 
Down stairs Mr. Sherman is trying to put some 
final touches to the copying of the committees. Alas, 
if final touches are not soon put to them I am afraid 
your Father will give out entirely. For the first time 
in his life he says he feels a strain upon him which 
affects his brain. His head aches badly every day, 
and at night his circulation is feeble and he is very 
languid. Tomorrow he leaves for Washington, get- 
ting there Thursday or Friday. He made his usual 
preparation last night by having up a barber at the 
house. The door-bell was ringing continually and 
people calling on him all the time, so after the ton- 
sorial professor had been introduced to my room and 
a large hnen spread down for the protection of the 
carpet, Emmons sat down. His hair had been cut 
very lately in Boston, but it certainly needed clip- 
ping, and then Mons was not averse to saving one 
fee. When he was through we put J'aime into liis 
high chair. The pretty little fellow would not permit 
himself to wink. When he was cropped, we had up 
father. It is a work of art now to cut your Father's 
hair and leave at the same time enough on the head. 
Happily however this desirable end was achieved, and 
at ten Monsieur took his leave with $5 out of my 
pocket book for himself and $3 for Dennis Berry, 
that poor handless man. Emmons got home, as you 
[60] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Icnow, Tuesday afternoon. When he was goi'nf;^ to 
bed he came to the stairway and called down to Susan 
to know if she would mend his trousers. Of course 
she would, but when she took hold of them she was 
perfectly appalled to find one side of the seat almost 
gone, and not a scrap to mend with, and these were 
all he had — his new ones not having come from 
Boston. Your old clothes — all which have not gone 
to Wisconsin or Michigan — were overhauled, and, 

good luck, one pair of Scotch grey trousers did 
turn up, which Emmons by never putting his hands 
into his pockets, has managed to wear. What would 
he have done without them? — for the Boston ones 
proved so small they had to be sent back. You 
will be amazed to see how large Emmons is ; his appe- 
tite too is immense. He insists this time on trying 
the club. His Father is opposed to it, but he says 
he is bound to save on his board. 

Mrs. Stowell is dead, — she died Wednesday. 
Emmons' report came by the morning's mail, and is, 

1 believe, quite satisfactory. What did not come 
and what your Father, Alice, Emmons and I were all 
watchiner at the window for for a full half hour be- 
fore Henry Breen came along, was a blue enveloped 
letter from you. Your Father would allow no one to 
go to the door for it but himself. But alas, though 
there was a very bright letter from Gail Hamilton, 

[61] 



LETTERS OF 

a racy one from Horace White,^ and a gossipy one 
from Joe Manley, who had ridden over a western rail- 
way with Colfax ^ and interviewed him, there was 
nothing from across the water. The detention by the 
despatch bag is sometimes very much longer than it 
should be. 

I have had three dinners this last week got ready 
for Governor Coburn^ — Tuesday, Thursday and Fri- 
day. Friday he came, and your Father and he had 
a very satisfactory business interview. Yesterday 
John Rice was here to dinner. I seem to have resumed 
all my cares. The baby is four weeks old to-day. 
My nurse has been gone a week. I go down to all 
my meals, cheer your Father if he is down-hearted, 
coax him out of medicines and into food, am all 
things to all moods. Then I do the marketing 
through George, overlook sewing, keep the children 
in abeyance as much as I can, and over all and 
through all care for the little baby, who is too young, 
I think, to be trusted to a nurse. I was never in- 
tended for anything but an old fashioned woman, aU 

' At that time editor and part proprietor of the Chicago Tribune ; 
editorial writer on New York Evening Post from 1883 to 1903. 

^ Schuyler Colfax, Member of Congress from Indiana, Speaker of 
the House, and at this time Vice-President under Grant. Though 
exonerated in the Credit Mobilier investigation he retired from politics, 
and devoted himself to giving lectures, his most popular subjects being 
"Across the Continent" and "Abraham Lincoln." 

* Abner Coburn, Governor of Maine 1862-64. 

[62] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

hands. The modern idea, and the better, is to be the 
head, and let others serve for hands. 



November 29, 1871 Wednesday evening. 

Dear Walker, — It has j ust occurred to me that 
to-morrow being Thanksgiving, I shall have no time 
for writing letters, so although it is already late, 
I will sit up long enough to write a few Hues. For- 
tunately I am not in France, so I shall not have to 
go to bed to keep warm. It is a stinging cold night, 
however, the wind blowing a hurricane and carrying 
away apparently all the heat we should have witliin 
walls. Emmons has gone to a Thanksgiving ball at 
Granite Hall, so of course he Avill not be at home 
for a long while. I coaxed him into letting me get 
him a pair of pantaloons made by Bosworth. They 
turned out so much handsomer than Callows', that 
he preferred them for the ball; also, I got him sus- 
penders, which helped his appearance very much; 
and at the last moment I produced an old pair of 
gloves of yours, which I had providentially put away 
when I was taking care of your leavings. He took 
a dollar for his own ticket and another for Jimmie 
Stinson's, and his own supper, so I presume he will 
turn up to-morrow morning with a good headache. 
His present purpose is to get up to an 8-1/^ break- 
[63] 



LETTERS OF 

fast at Aunt Emily's to-morrow morning, but I shall 
let him sleep till noon if he wants to. He and Alice 
are also to go to Aunt Em's to dinner. I will send 
her a turkey and other things, and they and Aunt 
Augusta's family and Aunt Hannah's, with the 
Mason's come here to supper. Aunt Susan has been 
in the kitchen all day, so you can imagine the turkeys 
and oysters, the pics and salads, the cake and coffee, 
which long before you are reading this letter will have 
gone to join the innumerable company of Thanks- 
giving suppers. 

This morning, to my great delight — for I had 
given up expecting anything from the Scotia — your 
two letters in reply to your Father's turned up. I at 
once telegraphed him to the Parker House, saying 
that his surmises were correct, both as to person, 
money and address, — calling no names, as a tele- 
gram always seems to be semi-public. His anxiety 
I knew was great, and he could not get your letter 
until he reached Washington, as he was to leave at 
3 this afternoon for New York. He will be so pleased 
at his own shrewd guessing that he will not be very 
severe on you, but Mr. S. will not escape. I want 
to know nothing more about him. To borrow of 
a boy of 16 traveling for educational purposes under 
his father's instructions, and to borrow Avhile he was 
inviting him to his house, — oh, the bad taste ! I do 
[64] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

not think one hard thought of you, but what would 
I think of your Father doing as Mr. S. has done? 
Your letters were admirable. I never had a fear 
that you had done anything wrong. You made a 
great mistake in not writing about it, and a mistake 
in not declining to lend to Mr. S., but I never for one 
moment feared that you had been wicked. If the 
money is refunded, it will make no difference in my 
estimate of the man. 

Tom got away yesterday afternoon, a happy man, 
as your father had told him he need not go to Wash- 
ington until New Years. We have had quite a sud- 
den death in our neighborhood. Callie Breen, nee 
Williams, died at four o'clock this morning of ty- 
phoid fever. I only heard of her sickness yesterday. 
She was 22, so it is two years since she took care of 
Ahce. I saw her to-day, and the color of her race 
stood out very markedly on her dead face. 

I have just been reading of the execution of Rossel.^ 

* Louis Nathaniel Rossel, Chief of Legion of the 17th Arrondisse- 
ment of Paris, formerlj' Captain of Engineers at Metz, whence he 
escaped after the surrender of that fortress and was made Colonel by 
Gatnbetta ; being reduced to his former rank by Thiers, he deserted 
the government and joined the Commune. He was chief of the com- 
mission of barricades, and one of the few leaders of the Commune that 
had any miiitarj' abihty. He was unable to agree with the Comite 
Centrale and was subsequently imprisoned, but escaped. After tie 
Commune he was executed at the age of twenty-eight, for bearing 
arms against France. Of the prisoners taken after the Commune 

VOL. 1 — 5 [ ^-^ ] 



LETTERS OF 

I know nothing about the pohtics of France, but 
how dreadful that people must still be condemned 
in that unhappy country. 

Mrs. Warren Fisher has another daughter — a 
great disappointment to her, as they are anxious 
to have a son and this is the fourth daughter. I 
am sorry to say that Mr. Fisher seems to be fast 
losing in the esteem of all good men. Every new 
discovery your Father makes only seems to show a 
baseness still deeper. Will he ever reach the bottom 
of his treachery towards himself.'' 

Emmons has been skating all day — fun for him, 
but hard fare for the horse as he rides to his pleasure 
grounds, blankets poor old Prince, and comes home 
only when he is hungry. I expect he takes girls, as 
he has the best carriage. He is so kind and pleasant 
and is so bright and gay I can refuse him nothing. 
I make a very poor mother. Your old grays gave 
out Monday. If they had gone west and fallen into 
the possession of a shm youth, doubtless they would 
have endured some time longer. Fortunately an- 
other pair of yours came to light, striped, rather loud 
in style for you. These are now pressed into the 
service. 

some twelve hundred suffered various penalties, ninctj'-five being 
executed. Thomas INIarch, The History of the Paris Commune, 
London, 1896. 

[66] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Cousin Abby has written me since she got your 
letter. She writes me often the brightest and wittiest 
of letters. She was very mucli pleased with your 
writing her. She is going to Washington this winter. 
But paper, time and baby cry out to say good-night, 
and I say it, only first repeating how satisfied I am 
with your explanation. Be always a good boy and 
delight your affectionate, 

MOTHEE. 

Thursday evening, December 28. 
Dear Walker, — After getting off your letter 
Monday evening I turned my attention to your 
Father's toilet. I do not know Avhether or not I wrote 
you that we were invited to the golden wedding of 
Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, and that just at tea time, when 
I was rejoicing in the thought of wearing some of 
my finery in Augusta, it came out that your Father 
had no clothes at home except those in which he was 
then standing, a roughish suit a year old. What 
Chicago had not swallowed up, had gone to Wash- 
ington. We were both full of regret, as you may 
believe. The Pater took a candle and made search 
in the trunk room, but nothing came of it but two 
gaiters, and even those were not ahkc. To match 
the gaiters, I myself went westward, and returned 
triumphant, bringing on my arm a pair of black 
[67] 



LETTERS OF 

trousers not too much the worse for wear, a swallow 
tail coat — very much of a swallow, too — made in 
Paris when your Father was in Europe ; lavendar 
gloves almost new turned up in the pantaloon 
pockets ; — in short, every essential of a first class 
society dress was drummed up from one quarter or 
another, with the single exception of a white cravat ; 
and at nine o'clock behold us in the narrow sleig-h with 
George for postillion en route. Over my own dress 
I sported almost $300. worth of black lace, so I hope 
nothing more need be said about my own toilet. You 
never saw any one so pleased as was your Father with 
his dress. WTien I went down into the parlor on my 
way to the sleigh I found all the burners lighted, 
while he turned himself about and about admiring old 
clothes as good as new — as good ! a thousand times 
better in his eyes ! Of the wedding you will not care 
to hear much. There was a table laden with pres- 
ents, a handsome supper, a poem by Mme. Dillingham 
read by Mrs. Beach and sung to the tune of Auld 
Lang Syne, the house trimmed with Christmas greens, 
the whole Williams clan, — and last a dance, the jig 
led off by Mrs. Fuller and Arthur Edwards' grand- 
father. I was taken out to supper by Dr. Harlow, 
and saw your father leading in Mrs. Lang. Emmons 
was in\ated, but preferred to spend his evening with 
the Wyman girls ; he told George he might stay in the 
[08] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

kitchen and he would drive over with us. When he 
rang the bell Aunt Helen came to the door, so of 
course ]\Ions had to go in. He did very well, but said 
coming home he wished his hands had been clean. 
When he was coming away Aunt Helen brought him 
a napkin and cake, also Anna Cutler's picture to look 
at. Emmons got off Tuesday noon. Had a lunch of 
cold Indian cake and apple pie, and was not other- 
wise burdened with luggage even to a collar. We 
have not heard from Emmons since he arrived in An- 
dover, for Emmons, though a very good talker, holds 
a more cramped pen than even I do. Father wrote to 
Mr. Tilton and told him that he and he alone was to 
blame for the delay in Mons' return. Mr. Sherman 
came that night. Yesterday morning your Father 
went to Boston ; hopes to return to-morrow. By the 
way, they are just taking off the Pullman car from 
this road and putting it on the other — doing it to 
appease Lewiston. As it has been well patronized 
by Augusta people, such treatment seems rather 
rough. 

Mr. Hale went through town yesterday on his way 
to Ellsworth. He says he shall stick to Maine, means 
to buy the old Peters place in Ellsworth. Had I 
known they were going through I would have seen 
them, though it was out of the question for me to ask 
them to stop. I believe our first Washington dinner 
[69] 



LETTERS OF 

is to be given to them. Your Father has to buy, while 
in Boston this time, cutlery, table linen, china, and 
ornamentation generally. I shrink perceptibly when 
I think of taking up all the ceremonies of Washing- 
ton life. As we expect to leave Wednesday, I am in 
all the rush and pressure of preparation. 



To ]Mr. Blaine, in Washington ^ 

Monday evening, December 11. 
My dear, — I am getting discouraged about the 
little sister and the receptions and dinners, etc. of 
the winter. Whom can I leave the baby with so that 
if she cries I shall not fly the table to your and my 
unutterable disgrace.? It does not seem that I can 
do much for podsnappery this winter. Professor 
Barber has been down to see me this afternoon, really 
overflowing with congratulations on your most happy 
selections of committees ; says he shall tell you to 
" cut off the tail of the dog." When Alcibiades did 
so many fine things that he was afraid of being forced 

' This is one of the few existing letters to IVIr. Blaine, and was 
probably preserved by being enclosed in a letter to Walker. On 
Mr. Blaine's return from any journey, it was Mrs. Blaine's invariable 
custom to destroy any of her letters she could lay her hands on. 



[70] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

into some great office, he cut off the tail of a dog to 
show tliat he could do a foolish deed. 

The afternoon mail brought me your letter telling 
of Charlie Caldwell's prospective promotion, but I 
have not seen any of Sylvanus' family this evening. 
I am thinking of having our Society the week you are 
at home. I fancy it would be a most gratifying and 
popular thing to do. Shall you be at home the Fri- 
day before Christmas.? Be sure to tell me. I am so 
tired I cannot spell. Do excuse the lifeless notes I 
write. I certainly must find time in the morning to 
do a cheerful line. You do not know how this mat- 
ter of dressing and partying haunts me. I am getting 
to love the little sister so, and everything savoring 
of neglect to her is so foreign to my usual life. 

To Walker, in France 

December 31, 1871, Sunday evening. 
My dear Walker, — I must commence a letter to 
3'ou to-night, even though I write by a poorer fire 
than yours in Paris. The house is in the last stage 
of confusion preparatory to the breaking up here 
and my starting for Washington next Wednesday, 
and all my good andirons are doing duty down stairs, 
while here in my room are those tall cold solitaires 
which, as Charles Lamb once said of a man, would 
[71 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

cast a gloom over a funeral. Mr. Sherman and Uncle 
Jacob are both here. I had Miss Sanborn here yes- 
terday sewing for the little sister, making her a trav- 
eling cloak. Went down town to make some neces- 
sary purchases, and when I came home found ■ 

here. Judge of my feelings ! M. sick in my 



bed, the little sister occupying a crib in the same 
room, Father using the west room, Mr. Sherman 
the Irregular. Do you remember Miss Sanborn who 
has so often sewed for me with Mrs. Thoms? Of 
course you do. Well, she is to go on to Washington 
with me to help about the children. Martha, the 
colored girl I have had for two winters, is to be the 
regular nurse, but Miss Sanborn will be there as a 
sort of breakwater. I am very much delighted with 
the arrangement. 

All day long your Father, I and Tom Sherman 
have been paying bills. A great family are we, so 
far as the circulation of money is concerned. To- 
night we are very nearly square with the world. 
Devotedly, 

Mother. 



[ 72] 



1872 



Among IVIr. Blaine's Washington neighbors at this time were 
Governor Buckingham, then Senator from Connecticut, Thomas 
Swan, a Representative from INIarjland, Fernando Wood, a Repre- 
sentative from New York, Benjamin F. Butler, a Rejiresentative 
from INIassachusetts, and Hamilton Fish, of New York, Secretary 
of State. 

General W. T. Sherman, later to become a neighbor, lived at this 
time in the house on I Street, that had been a gift first to General 
Grant and then to General Sherman. ^Irs. Sherman was a cousin 
of j\Ir. Blaine and a daughter of Thomas Ewing, who was Senator 
from Ohio, and Secretary of the Treasurj' in the cabinets of William 
Henry Harrison and Tyler, Aiarch to September, 1841, and who 
organized the Interior Department for I^resident Taylor in 1849. 
It is curious that he was thrown out of both the Harrison and Taylor 
Cabinets by the death of the President. He had three sons, Hugh 
Ewing, Major-General in the Civil War, and United States Minister 
to Holland, 186G-70; Thomas Ewing, Major-General in the Ci\dl 
War, and Member of Congress from Oliio, 1877-81 ; and Charles 
Ewing, Brigadier-General in the Ci\'il War, and later a la'R'yer in 
Washington. 



To Alice, in School, at Augusta 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, Sunday, January 8, '72. 

My dear Alice, — I suppose you have thought 
of us as all settled to-day in Wasliington a great 
many times. We got here last night at five, very 
tired, very dirty, and very anxious to get rest, a bath 
and something to eat. It seemed good to see Robert 
at the carriage door, and have some one to carry our 
bundles even into the house. And here let me give 
you a Httle piece of advice, — to pack everything 
away before starting on a journey so as to go arm 
free. We were thoroughly loaded down with shawls, 
bags, muffs, overcoat, basket and baby. But we got 
through, and for all our mercies let us be thankful. 

I go back to where I left you when I finished my 
letter Thursday evening. Father and Emmons came 
home from the theatre in good season, and after a 
little chat Emmons went off to his room, and we to 
bed. In the morning J'aime came in all dressed, 
Miss Sanborn having taken him his clothes when she 
went to bed. The next morning, Friday, we got over 
breakfast about in our usual season. Miss Sanborn 
and J'aime had theirs in our room. After breakfast 
just as I finished dressing the baby, cousin Abby came 
in, and almost immediately after, Jacob. Uncle Jacob 
[75] 



LETTERS OF 

only stayed a few minutes, as Father had gone out. 
He said Louisa was coming in very shortly and would 
bring in some ginger bread and fruit. Afraid of 
getting detained, I took M. and went off at once 
to see about a bonnet. Ordered a black velvet hat, 
and then went over to Holbrooks', where I found 
Father and Cousin Abby awaiting me. Cousin Abby 
bought herself an elegant shawl which Mr. Plolbrook 
had shown me the day before, and I bought myself a 
very pretty black one with a narrow border, suitable 
for spring and summer wear, for $75. I thought of 
Aunt Susan, and wished she could have the shawl 
cousin Abby bought. Your Father wanted me to take 
it for myself. I also bought myself a black lace cape 
for $35. Emmons came in and took M. to see 
Shreve's store. Father had left us some time before, 
and my next visit was about hair. Here I was de- 
tained a long time. My hair was all taken down, a 
long lock cut out, and at last I decided on what to 
have: two long braids, for which I have paid $72. 
To get such as I had in my mind would cost me 
$1,000. After my hair had been redone, I got mj^sclf 
out of the hands of the French and went back to the 
Parker House. Found Miss Sanborn and J'aime, 
with the little sister, quietly sleeping. As it was 
after two, I concluded to order our dinner up stairs 
and let the others look out for themselves. When 
[76] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I got back to the Parker House it was after five, and 
I was so tired, I was cross. Everyone seemed to look 
upon my coming as a signal for relief. Burdens were 
laid down, and I at once commenced taking them up. 
First of all — the baby, who had endeared herself to 
every heart by her delightful behavior. Cousin Abby 
was obliged to go away at once, but Frank stayed a 
long time. Miss Sanborn, your Father and I went 
down to get a cup of tea and a bit of bread and 
butter, leaving M. asleep on the sofa, the little sister 
in the same condition on the bed, and J'aime awake, 
with Emmons. When we came back we found the 
little fellow asleep also in his brother's arms. All 
then had to be waked up, as it was time to go. For a 
few minutes it was pretty disheartening, but M. soon 
got back her good humor, and J'aime got to laugh- 
ing. The little sister was hushed ; and to my great 
surprise, we found ourselves, our children and our 
bundles, at the Worcester depot in ample season. 
For help, Emmons was a host in himself. His Father, 
good as he is, is not better. He wanted dreadfully 
to go to Washington, but at the sleeping car we 
separated, — he going back to the Parker House to 
return to Andover yesterday morning. The children 
were so wide awake and so amusing that I actually 
enjoyed myself the first hour of our night journey. 
Nor was any of it harder for me than many a 
[ 77] 



LETTERS OF 

night at home has been this summer. Before 6 we 
were all up and ready for another start, and at 6.15 
we were at the Hoffman House. Here we had a very 
good breakfast, fried oysters, omelette, tea, coffee 
and rolls. Another vigorous push, and we were on 
the ferry; another, and we were in the cars, fortu- 
nate enough to get a compartment to ourselves. Of 
course we had a very long and trying day yesterday, 
but the children all had naps, and though I felt 
tempted to say with the Bangor sister, " I will not 
submit," I kept on with the cars, and at five we 
reached Washington. We were quite fortunate in 
regard to company also, only a few gentlemen finding 
us out. In the afternoon Judge Kelly ^ brought 
himself into the midst of our squalor, a large and 
very greasy parcel in his hand, inquiring in his mag- 
nificent voice if we were Pennsylvanians enough to 
love doughnuts. We all, even to Mr. Blaine, politely 
took one ; but I was relieved to have him out of the 
car, for I saw M.'s face in intense disgust. " O take 
it, take it," said she in her impatience, " it 's no more 
like Aunt Susan's than, — " but words quite failed her. 
He said he had so much lunch he had given a great 
deal to a beggar girl, but doughnuts he would not 

' Juflpe William D. Kelly, member of Congress from Pennsyl- 
vania, familiarly knowu as "Pig Iron" Kelly. 

[78] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

give, he had too much respect for them. Good luck 
to the beggar girl ! 

We found the house in beautiful order, and at six 
precisely were called down to dinner. It was served, 
of course, in beautiful order, Robert taking his stand 
at the back of Mr. Blaine's chair in his old style. 
Soup, macaroni, then a splendid roast of beef, slaw, 
cranberry, celery, etc., apple sago pudding, oranges 
and apples, and as good a cup of tea as I ever tasted. 
It seemed to me I had never seen the house look so 
well. The curtains are all up ; what a thing that is ! 
The billiard room carpet is down, — very pretty. 
Martha, Mary Wilson, James and Robert are here. 
I expect another maid to-morrow. 

Mr. Hale was in before we were dressed this morn- 
ing. Went out to breakfast with us, and seemed in 
every respect just as he used to. He got into the 
city on the morning train. 

Monday evening. 

Try as I would, dear Alice, I could not get my 
letter off last night. My trunks came this morning. 
I unpacked enough to get out my black silk, my red 
shawl and brown hat ; then left everything and went 
to Mrs. Creswell's -^ to lunch, — a most elegant affair. 

' Wife of John A. J. Creswell, Senator from Man'land, Postmaster- 
General under Grant, and later counsel of (^ourt of Alabama claims, 
of which Walker Blaine became assistant counsel. 

IVIr. Blaine in his "Twenty Years of Congress" (1884) says that of 

[70] 



LETTERS OF 

The ladles of the Cabinet there. Would you like to 
know what we had? In the first place, — oysters on 
the shell, or rather, on shell china plates ; then clear 
soup, then sweet-breads and French peas, then Roman 
punch, then chicken cutlets, then birds, then chicken 
salad, ices, jelly, charlottes, candied preserves, cake, 
fruit, candy, tea, coffee, and four kinds of wines. Too 

all cabinets theretofore, Franklin Pierce's was the only one that en- 
dured throuin;h the administration unchanged, the changes in President 
Grant's cabinet being more numerous than in any preceding it. Its 
members, twenty-five in all, many of wliom, or whose wives, are 
mentioned in these Letters, included: Secretaries of State: Elihu B. 
Washburne, Hamilton Fish ; Treasury: George S. Boutwell, \Villiam 
A. Richardson, Benjamin H. Bristow, and Lot M. Morrill; War: 
John A. Rawlins, William W. Belknap, Alphonso Taft, James Donald 
Cameron; Navy: Adolph E. Borie and George M. Robeson; Post- 
masters-General: John A. J. Creswell, James W. Marshall, INIar- 
shall Jewell, James N. Tyner; Attorneys-General: E. Rock wood 
Hoar, Amos T. Akerman, George H. Williams, Edwardes Pierrepont, 
Alphonso Taft; Interior: Jacob D. Cox, Columbus Delano, 
Zachariah Chandler. 

Besides these there were A. T. Stewart, the "merchant-prince" of 
New York, who was nominated for Secretary of the Treasury, but 
never served; General Sherman, who was Secretary of War and 
Interior, and Eugene Hale, who was appointed Postmaster-General, 
but did not enter upon his service. President Grant was very desirous 
of having Mr. Stewart serve but found after nominating him that 
there were legal disabilities in the way, the act estabhshing the Trea- 
sury Department, passed by the First Congress at its first session, 
ha^•ing provided that no person was eligible for the office who was 
"directly or indirectly concerned in the business of trade or com- 
merce." The penalty for making such an appointment included a 
fine of S.SOOO and removal from office, and President Grant frankly 
informed the Senate that he was unaware of the restrictions at the 
time of making Mr. Stewart's appointment. 
[80] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

much altogether, your Father thinks, for women 
folks. 

On my way I stopped at Mrs. Forrest's with one 
dress. She makes it tliis week. Invitations are pour- 
ing in. I have two for Fernando Wood's,^ two for 
Lady Thornton's. Everything seems just as it did 
last winter. When I saw the dress at Mrs. Creswell's 
I felt that I had nothing to wear, but before I got 
away I discovered that Mrs. Boutwcll's bows were 
worn exactly where the Pinkey sisters wear theirs, also 
that the skirt of her black silk dress had evidently 
felt the deadly pressure of an iron, and as one touch 
of human nature makes the whole world kin, I felt 
en rapport at once. 

M. and J'aime and Miss Sanborn have had their 
first noon dinner to-day. M. took the walk and the 
seat of the scornful ; but it works well. Dear darling 
little J'aime is, I am sorry to say, very much under 
the weather. I have a great deal more to say, but 
cannot take the time to get my letter off. You do 
not know how nice Martha's and Robert's ways seem 
to me. The laundress, Hannah Grant, has been here 
to-day. IMy other girl comes to-morrow. Martha 
has been cleaning all day. The Red Room and Mr. 
Sherman's are all in order. I begin my receptions 

* Fernando Wood, Democratic Member of Conf^ress from New 
York, and Mayor of New York City during the Civil War. 
VOL. 1—6 [ 81 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Wednesday. Mr. Blaine has one Friday evening. 
My hands are full, but the httle sister behaves beauti- 
fully. Father wants you to have this letter put into 
the envelope with the Kennebec Journal and sent to 
Walker. He tliinks he will be interested in the chit- 
chat of it, and I shall never write it over again. 
Devotedly, 

Mother. 

My new dresses were all at the dressmaker's. The 
reception was very large and very select. Altogether, 
if I had felt strong, I would have enjoyed it, but it 
seems to me I am asked to fill immensity with my 
presence, and I cannot do it. 

To Walker, at Madame Hedler's School, 
IN Paris 

Afternoon of Tuesday. 
J'aime is still very sick. Dear Walker, though the 
doctor declares him better and sees no danger. At 
3 I left him and went to the White House to pay 
my respects to Mrs. Grant. Found the reception 
crowded, though not so much elegant dressing as 
sometimes one sees. Coming home I sent my card 
in to Mrs. Wood, wishing to inquire about a school 
for M. She kept me waiting a long time, and then 
was full of apologies about her dress ; from which I 
infer that mothers are the same in palace and hovel. 
[ 82] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Wednesday morning. 

I finish this poor letter, dear Walker, by the crib 
of Que J'aime. Dear little fellow, precious as the 
apple of my eye, he is very, very sick. Last night we 
found he was rapidly growing worse. His disease, 
which is remittent fever, has gone to the brain, and 
although by no means hopelessly sick, he is in great 
danger. It is four nights since I have been to bed. 
Up to last night I have taken care of him alone. 
Last night no one person could have had the care of 
him. From twelve to four he was the sickest person I 
ever saw. At four the extreme symptoms seemed to 
change, and since then he has been steadily improving. 
Dr. Pope has had the case, but now Dr. Verdi comes 
with him, and will continue to do so until the case is 
decided one way or the other. I think he will get well, 
but the chances are very close. 

We got your letter this morning, also Aunt 
Caddy's and Almet's. Shall send them east this 
morning. Cousin Abby came last night. 

Good by, with a heart full of love, 

Mother. 

821 Fifteenth St., WAsmNGTON, January 26, 
Friday morning. 

My dear Walker, — I can hardly believe in my 

good fortune. I have just written a long letter to 

[83] 



LETTERS OF 

Emmons, uninterrupted by sick or well, and now I 
commence one to you. Upstairs cousin Abby sits 
reading " Old and New," and Miss Sanborn plays the 
piano. J'aime lies asleep on my bed, the Httle sister 
in her crib. We have depended mostly on milk for 
J'aime's nourishment, and most of it has come from 
Mrs. Fernando Wood. So much for having neighbors 
in this Vanity Fair of a city. During the worst of 
his sickness, two were obliged to sit up with J'aime, 
but just as late and just as soon as possible I stayed 
up alone with him. I did this partly to save the 
strength of others, but mostly because I could not 
stay away from him. My very life seemed bound up 
in that of the child. He is now really getting better, 
but oh, the care he is ! Of course I have as yet had 
neither part nor lot in the gaieties of Washington. 
Last night I persuaded your Father to go into 
Mrs. Wood's, as this was our second invitation. 
Accordingly he and Cousin Abby went. They were 
at home soon after twelve, but had had an agree- 
able time. To-night we were to have a reception, but 
I did not dare have the noise in the house. Next 
week I am engaged for two dinners, one Senator 
Chandler's.! 

We shall probably ourselves give a dinner Friday. 
I have a party dress ready — blue silk trimmed very 

* Zachariah Chandler, Senator from IMichigan from 1857 to 1875. 
[81] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

freely with duchesse lace, low neck and short sleeves. 
This afternoon I have been to leave directions about 
another — pearl color to be trimmed with pink silk 
and black lace. I shall ring the changes on these two 
during the season. I feel remarkably well dressed, 
but most of my dresses are old ones, revamped. We 
have a new waiter this winter, called Solomon Doug- 
las. We call him by the last name, though if I could 
only joke, I should certainly say something about 
Solemn Douglas, for his manners are truly sepulchral. 
He has deep thoughts on the dignity of his office — 
always speaks of me as " The Madam," and while 
very fond of her, will permit no unsanctioned indul- 
gence to M. She beats herself out against the rock 
of his dignity in vain. 

Mrs. Hale comes in to see me quite often. She 
wants to be received just as her husband is. I like 
her very much indeed, think her a noble girl. 

Monday morning. 
J'aime still improving. We are through with 
breakfast, and he is dressed, though he does not sit 
alone. M. is playing about the room with Alice 
Wood, too happy for anything because she has a 
play-fellow. Cousin Abby is reading the newspapers. 
I went out last night to the Congregationalist tem- 
perance meeting. Heard a nice little story told of 
[85] 



LETTERS OF 

Speaker Blaine. His strong point seems to be his 
deadly opposition to tobacco, I was immensely 
amused, as it was only Saturday afternoon when Dr. 
Rankin was in at our house, and this nice little talk 
was detailed the very next evening. 

I have three dinners in view to give, — one to Mr. 
Hale next Thursday, to the President, Monday, to 
the Ewing family Thursday. A number of the Oliio 
Ewings are spending the winter with Mrs. Sherman, 
all in black — so they do not visit in public. 

Good-by, 

Devotedly, 

Mother. 



821 Fifteenth St. Sunday evening, 

February 11, 1872. 

I got no farther, dear Walker, last night. Your 
Father came upstairs and got to worrj^ing about 
J'aime, who was very hot, and so of course I felt no 
more hke writing. The little fellow has been very 
feverish all night, but is up and dressed now, feeling 
as well as he has done. He has a lingering, more 
properly, a halting convalescence. He is very deaf 
indeed; does not hear one word unless it is addressed 
directly and with effort to him, but we expect that 
this is only temporary. 

[8G] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

As I was saying last night, Mr and ]\Irs Hale were 
here to tea. She looked very pretty indeed. To-day 
we have many gentlemen to dinner. I am not to be 
present — a vast relief to me. A new man whom 
Frank Leshe ^ has imported from England to outdo 
Nast, Mr. Summer,- and others. Friday we have the 
President and Mrs. Grant. Round table at both 
dinners. Lent will, you know, begin Wednesday, so 
of course everything for the week past has gone with 
a double and treble rush. Every available day-time 
moment I have been out making calls. Tuesday even- 

» Frank Leslie, editor and proprietor of " Frank Leslie's Illustrated 
Newspaper," a species gf journal in the founding of Mliich P. T. 
Barnum was the pioneer. Mr. LesUe was the original importer of 
Tom Nast, the famous caricaturist, a native of Bohemia, who resigned 
to go abroad and make war sketches with Garibaldi's army in Italy, 
and on his return to America began his cartoons in Harper's Weekly. 

2 Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, then fifty-nine years 
of age. In the year previous INlr. Sumner had been removed from his 
position as cliairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the 
Senate on account of political difficulties with President Grant's 
administration, growing out of his opposition to the treaty to annex 
San Domingo. The removal was characterized by Mr. Blaine in his 
"Twenty Years in Congress" as comparable only with the earlier and 
physical assault made on i\Ir. Sumner in 1856 in the Senate Chamber 
by Representative Preston S. Banks, a nephew of Senator Butler. 
On the day following the dinner mentioned in the Letters, Mr. Sumner 
introduced resolutions in the Senate to investigate the suspected sale 
of government ordnance and arms during the Franco-Prussian War, 
an investigation which, commonly known as the French Arms Affair, 
excited the widest public interest at the time. Mr. Sunnier died in 
1874 at Washington, where his body lay in state at the Capitol before 
being buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery at Cambridge, Mass. 
[87] 



LETTERS OF 

ing I dined at Secretary Delano's ; ^ wore blue silk ; — • 
twenty-two at dinner. Went out to table with Sen- 
ator Windom,- but was then separated from him and 
was left to the tender mercies of Governor Cooke, ^ 
Had a pleasant time ; Cousin Abby, who sat at table 
with General Bristow,^ a brilliant one; so also did 
your Father. Got home at 11. The next day I had 
a reception, largely attended ; Gen. Sickles ^ and wife, 
and Gen. Sheridan, here, among others. Thursday 
just after dinner my other new silk came home, so 
your Father insisted upon my going out with him. 
Accordingly, at 10 behold me starting for Lady 
Thornton's. Here we had a very delightful time ; the 
people all very elegantly dressed, and a chosen com- 
pany. About 12 we went to Mrs. Rathbone's.^ This 
party was as brilliant as a party could be, house, 
people, supper, lights, everything of the best. At 
Lady Thornton's I was taken out to supper by Gen- 



' Columbus Delano of Ohio, Secretary of the Interior under 
President Grant. 

^ William Windom, Senator from Minnesota, Secretary of the 
Treasury under President Garfield, and again under Harrison. 

^ Henry D. Cooke, brother of Jay Cooke, and Governor of the 
District of Columbia, 1873. 

* Benjamin H. Bristow, Secretary of the Treasury under President 
Grant. 

* Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, New York; then Minister to Spain. 

•^ Wife of ]Major Henry Rathbone, U. S. A., who vvas with Presi- 
dent Liucohi at the time of his assassination. 



[88] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

eral Banks,^ home by Gen. Burke,^ and got to bed at 
two. Found the children all very comfortable on my 
return, as they had been during my absence. These 
were my first parties for the winter. 

821 FiPTEENTH St., Sunday afternoon, Feb. 18, 1872. 
My dear Walked, — Lunch is just over, and 
after in vain trying to get J'aime, who is having a 
fractious day, into good humor, I have abandoned 
him to his fate, meaning the tender mercies of his 
Father, Miss Sanborn, Cousin Abby, M., Annie and 
Martha. Here the door bell rings. Douglas answers 
it. Some one to see the Speaker. Douglas distantly 
answers that indeed he does not know whether Mr. 
Blaine is home or not. If the gentleman will walk 
into the parlor he will see. Enter gentleman, and 
upstairs Douglas. Returning, he announces that 
Mr. Blaine has gone up to see Mr. Sherman, a fib 
with a circumstance; and Douglas coming through 
the library where Mr. Sherman and I are writing, 
says he shall never get to heaven in this world, and 

' Gen. N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, Member of Congress and 
ex- Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

^ Dennis Francis Burke, who enlisted for the Civil War with the 
69th Regiment of New York. He was a native of Ireland and on a 
visit to Dublin in 1866 was arrested for a Fenian and confined for 
seven months in Mountjoy prison. On his return to the United States 
he became assistant apprai.ser of the New York Custom House and 
held the jxisition till his death in 181)3. 

[89] 



LETTERS OF 

vanishes looking exceedingly pleased, for him, at the 
prospect. Whereupon Mr. Sherman says to me in 
an aside that he does not see what his idea of heaven 
in this world can be. 

Friday we had our Presidential dinner. Oh, how 
glad I am to have it over! Father wanted to defer 
it until Emmons came, but I could not let it over- 
hang so long. The President is so heavy in every- 
thing but feeding, — there he is vei-y light. He 
talked incessantly about himself. I have a certain 
sympathy w^ith him, for I think him an honest man, 
and indeed he feels dreadfully assailed. Sir Edward ^ 
sat on my other hand. After dinner was over and the 
guests had departed, Father, Miss Dodge, and my- 
self went to the Wellington to attend the reception of 
the Japanese Minister. I went out to supper with 
the Minister himself, a lively little Japanese, rather 
taller than the average of his countrymen, speaking 
English perfectly well. The Japs seemed to be per- 
fectly delighted at seeing so many ladies. Mrs. 
Schurz ^ said when she left, Monsieur Mori ^ was 
standing motionless, his arm tight around a young 

* Sir Edward Thornton, British ISIinLster to the United States. 

^ Wife of Senator Carl Schurz of jNIissouri. 

^ An embassy from Japan under Mr. Iwakuri came to the United 
States at this time to study with the Japanese Minister, Arinori JMori, 
the repubUcan institutions of America. The members were extensively 
entertained in Washington. 

[90] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

lady's waist. Imagine it ! In the morning I was at the 
Capitol ; heard Mr. Beck ^ reply to Mr. Brownlow, — 
a personal explanation, mostly in bad, bad taste ; 
interesting to me because of the perfectly impartial 
ruling of your Father, though to do it he had to 
decide against Mr. Stephenson,^ Mr. Hale, and j\Ir. 
Garfield. Thursday, Gen. Thomas Ewing and sev- 
eral other gentlemen were here to dinner, — a pleas- 
ant time. Wednesday I had no reception. It was 
Ash Wednesday, also Valentine's Day. 

Tuesday we were invited to a great many places, 
but did not go out at all. The day was very bad, 
and we were in the evening too tired for an3'thing. 
The day before — Monday — which carries me back 
to my last letter, we had had a large dinner party — 
a most successful dinner. Charles Sumner was here, 
Mr. Hendricks,^ a good many newspaper men — 

* James Burnie Beck, Senator from Kentucky, 1877-90; at this 
time Member of the House of Representatives. William G. Brownlow, 
Governor of Tennessee during the reconstruction period, and later 
United States Senator. Mr. Brownlow's loyalty to the national cause 
during the ante-bellum years cost him separation from his family, loss 
of property, imprisonment and finally banishment from the Con- 
federacy. In earlier years he was a Methodist preacher and long Lore 
the nickname of Parson Brownlow. His editorship of the Knoxville 
Whig, printed in the mountains of Tennessee, anti-Jackson and 
pro-Clay, was Nigorous enough to give it wide influence. 

^ Representative Isaac Stepiienson, of Wisconsin, Mr. Hale of 
Maine, and General (afterwards President) James A. Garfield. 

^ Afterwards Vice-President Hendricks, but then out of office, and 
visiting iu Washington, his term in the Senate having expired La 18G9. 
[91] 



LETTERS OF 

Frank Leslie people, and so on. Miss Dodge dined 
last night at the Chandlers', and was taken out to 
dinner bj Gen. Sheridan. She had a most delightful 
time. To-morrow we have all the Ewings to dinner, 
and Tuesday we have tickets for Sothern. I shall 
think of you as I listen to Dundreary. 

We get down to breakfast soon after nine. Father 
sits down in his seat, and at once proceeds to bury 
himself in the newspapers. Douglas the slow gradu- 
ally works around among the mutton chops, the grits, 
the butter, the apples, the ham and the drinkables, 
and by the time everything is as cold as a stone, 
eating begins. Father does not even offer the steak. 
As we take the morning papers, and the mail is 
always large, you can imagine how social we are. 
I dare not abandon the children ; so while Cousin 
Abby and the Pater satisfy the hungry minds, I look 
out for the hungry little folks, and when I and they 
are through the readers wake up and are ready to 
be waited on. Just as we were getting through this 
morning, somebody or other remembered our dinner 
party of to-day, and then it was discovered that no 
orders had been given for the dinner — the bill of 
fare not even made out ! Such an explosion as then 
followed! However, everything is all straightened 
out now. But Father wants this letter to send. I 
have no time to see what I have said — it is full of 
[92] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

love, be sure of that. Only one thing — I liave 
written and written to Emmons letters which wci'e 
to go to you, but he fails to send them. This is 
why you are sometimes so long without hearing. 

Good-bj^, — lovingly, 

Mother. 

(Fragment) 

We have seen by the papers that Mr. Washburne 
is coming home, but the latest intelligence seems to 
be that he is not. We should have tried to have him 
make this his home. 

To go on with my narration, Friday evening we 
had ourselves an elegant reception. I shall exhaust 
the vocabulary of adjectives. For a wonder, I really 
enjoyed myself. This is only our second reception, 
yet it is the last. The first winter I had seven. Sat- 
urday afternoon we were all to go to Mrs. Swa3me's 
matinee. She is to be married next Thursday, start- 
ing for Europe Saturday. Your Father and Cousin 
Abby went at five, he coming back to dine at Welcker's 
at six. At seven I dressed and went, and about nine 
Cousin Abby and I came home — a very pleasant 
time. 

Yesterday all of us out at church. And now you 
have a very bald, but a faithful account of the fes- 
tivities of this week. I have written this much under 
[93] 



LETTERS OF 

all sorts of difficulties : baby not dressed, M. hug- 
ging, J'aime crying for me, Father giving all sorts 
of orders about flowers and getting very wroth at 
the stupidity of others ; Mr. Sherman doing fifty 
things at once. A call from Mr Hale, who has come 
to ask Cousin Abby to fill a vacancy at their table. 

My dear, dear boy, good-by. I intended writing 
a longer and better letter, but I could never write 
one with more love. 

Devotedly, 

MOTHEE. 

821 Fifteenth st., WAsmNGTON, ISIarch 3, 1872. 
Saturday afternoon. 

My dear Walker, — It is curious to watch a Lent 
evolve itself in Washington. Everything in the sea- 
son is hurried, piled up three deep — Lent comes so 
early this year, and with Lent everything ceases. 
Observe now my arrangements already entered into 
for the coming week, and from one week, learn all. 
This is Sunday. To-night there comes for tea Mrs 
Shepherd Pike, very likely others. Previously I go 
with Father to Capitol Hill to make a few visits. To- 
morrow at twelve I go to the White House to assist 
in the fonnal reception to the Japanese. Mrs. Fish 
has been in twice about it to-day already, Mr. Fish ^ 

* Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State under Grant. 
[ 94 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

once. The most punctilious arrangements are made 
for the ceremony. As this is the first ambassador 
this country has ever received, it behooves us to be 
particular. Your Father puts some one in the chair, 
and then hastens down himself to assist in the cere- 
monies. All the ladies are in full dress, morning 
costume, no bonnets. In the evening I go to the 
opera to hear Parepa in Figaro. Tuesday evening 
I go to the Masonic Temple to assist in another re- 
ception to the Japs. Mrs. Fish, wife of the Secretary 
of State ; Mrs. Colfax, wife of the President of the 
Senate; Mrs. Blaine, wife of the Speaker of the 
House, and Mrs. Banks, wife of the Chairman of 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, — are the ladies 
to receive. Wednesday I have a reception, and in 
the evening go to the opera again to hear Parepa. 
Thursday we are engaged at the Bristows, and Sat- 
urday afternoon Father takes M. and Miss San- 
born to the matinee. I am so sorry for Emmons that 
his vacation does not commence this week. 

Thursday afternoon. 
I am just up from down town, where I have been 
buying a little frippery for to-night. I went to the 
White House yesterday as I anticipated. All the 
ladies save myself were in high necks and long sleeves ; 
I just the reverse, but I covered my neck with a 
[95] 



LETTERS OF 

handsome cape, and was very much complimented 
on my appearance. The ceremonies were all gone 
through with according to programme. The Presi- 
dent and Cabinet and a few officers received the chief 
of the Japanese dignitaries, and then they were 
brought into the Blue Room and presented to Mrs. 
Grant and her ladies. Mrs. Grant had Mrs. Colfax 
on her right, myself on the left. I was quite un- 
prepared for the womanliness cordiality and thor- 
oughly unaffected kindliness of Mrs. Grant's recep- 
tion of these semi-heathen. I could not have done 
half so well. Fortunately I knew Mr. Mori, so that 
I could break the dread spell a little. Another thing 
also helped me personally very much. The chief 
interpreter turned out to be a young Mr. Rice, son 
of Elisha, and nephew of Judge Rice. He went 
from Augusta to Japan at the age of ten. Of course 
he got introduced to me and we had a great deal to 
talk about, to the evident admiration of our Asiatic 
friends, who looked on with longing eyes. In the 
evening Cousin Abby, Miss Sanborn and myself took 
a carriage and went to Parepa's opera. The sing- 
ing and acting were superb. I am sorry to say the 
house was poorly filled, — not over twenty in the 
audience that I knew, and by this time I know pretty 
much everybody of note. The night was horribly 
cold, and we were glad enough that I had had the ex- 
[96] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

travagancc of a carriage. Father opened the door 
to us at our first summons. The poor man had lost 
Parepa and had nothing to compensate. Over one 
hundi'cd and twenty-five guests sat down to Mr. 
Brooks' dinner in a room built over a stable — Mr. 
Robeson seated between two Japanese dignitaries, 
neither of whom, of course, could speak one English 
word. The dinner. Father said, seemed to be served 
by the acre, and after standing it as long as he could, 
he concluded to slip out. As soon as they saw your 
Father start, Mr. Voorhees ^ and ]\Ir. Beck also arose, 
and I should not be surprised to hear that quite a 
stampede then commenced, but afraid of the conse- 
quences, our Father beat a hasty retreat home. 

I ought to tell you a great deal about last week, 
because I did not write you after Monday, but it 
all seems to have faded out of my recollection. Fri- 
day evening I had a large dinner party ; but as it 
was mainly odds and ends, I mean looking up people 
to whom I owed a dinner, I was, with a few excep- 
tions, indifferent to the people. I went out to dinner 
with Judge Swayne,^ and had myself a very nice time, 
Judge Swayne being always agreeable to me. The 



' Representative, later Senator, Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana. 

- Noah Swayne, of Ohio, apprainted Associate Justice of the United 
States Supreme Court by President Lincoln ; father of General Wager 
Swayne of New York. 

VOL. I —7 [ 07 ] 



LETTERS OF 

dinner itself was perfectly delicious, but the flowers 
were not so pretty as usual. 

Wednesday, 10 o'clock. 
I am sorry, dear Walker, to have, after all, to 
conclude my letter in a hurry. I assisted in the re- 
ception last night — Mrs. Colfax, I, Mrs. Fish and 
Mrs. Banks. When supper was announced Iwakuri 
went first, having on his right arm Mrs. Colfax, the 
Vice-President on his left; then came Mr. Mori, 
Mrs. Fish, and your father on the other arm. Then 
the second Ambassador, I on his right arm, Secretary 
Fish on his left. Who came after I know not, every 
faculty of mine being absorbed in analyzing my feel- 
ings. So curious ! Not one word could my poor 
Asiatic understand of my language, and Mr. Fish 
having the whole Diplomatic Corps to keep straight, 
was continually looking around and calling out to 
some greater or less dignitary to fall into line. AVhen 
we had marched back from the supper room into the 
hall all our formal duties were over. We got home 
about twelve. This morning have been up to the 
House to see them received by your Father. Immense 
crowd there. 

821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON, March 12th, '72 
My dear Walker, — Please date your letters more 
accurately. Your Pater blows a blast which might 
[98] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

reach across the Atlantic when he sees one of your 
missives commencing with a Friday morning or a 
Tuesday or a Monday, and so on. We heard from 
you Sunday morning, and I yesterday sent the letter 
to Augusta. Emmons was coming away from An- 
dover, so I did not detain it for him. It will be hap- 
piness enough for him to be with us. I have the good 
dinner he writes for all ordered, but about an hour 
ago came a telegram from New York saying that he 
had lost the connection and could not be here till ten. 

This week is jogging along very quietly, a great 
contrast to last. I am trying to get calls paid up, 
though the dreadful weather sadly interferes. Such 
a spring! It snows all the latter part of the day, 
melts in the forenoon, thaws in the afternoon. 

Friday evening, being already as tired as I could 
be, I went with your father to a Maine sociable. 
Ever since we have been in Washington there has 
been a hearsay about our going to a Maine sociable, 
so Friday evening with the inevitable snow storm for 
our accompaniment, behold us starting forth. 

Tuesday evening. 

I had just got so far, dear Walker, when Mrs. 

Hale came in to make a little friendly call. As 

Eugene is in New Hampshire stumping, she is very 

lonely, so I had her come in and succeeded so well 

[ 99] 



LETTERS OF 

in entertaining her that she did not go till it was 
time for Cousin Abby to go to Miss Ripley's ; ^ with 
whom we were to take lunch. We had a very nice 
little table all to ourselves, and at three came away. 
Sent Robert to the Arlington for a carriage, and at 
once went out calling with Cousin A. Took Miss 
Sanborn and the darling J'aime along for a ride. As 
M. was making a call on Alice Wood, we had no 
trouble with her. Called every moment till dinner 
time, came home, ate dinner, and here I am. I dis- 
miss the Maine sociable as I see that was the topic 
I was on when interrupted, — with one word. Your 
Father and I stood around a few moments warming 
us at the stove, school fashion, not seeing one person 
we knew. Finally about half a dozen left their places 
in the dance and came up to see us, and all the others 
being strangers, we soon felt at liberty to come away. 
So much for a Maine sociable. Thursday evening 
we were at Mrs. Bristed's ^ at a ten o'clock supper. 
Only twelve at table, including Mr. and Mrs. Robe- 
son.^ Mrs. R. is a woman of undoubted talent. She 

• Elizabeth Ripley, niece of Senator Buckingham of Connecticut 
and Mrs. Blaine's next door neighbor in Washington. 

2 Wife of Charles Astor Bristed, the author, grandson of John 
Jacob Astor. 

' George Maxwell Robeson of New Jersey, Secretary of the Na^7 
from 1869 to 1877. He was married in January, 1872, to IMary 
Isabella (Ogston) Auhch, a widow. ISIr. Robeson was also Acting 
Secretary of War for a time on the resignation of William W. Belknap. 

[ 100 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

is extremely entertaining. At twelve and a half we 
came away. I went out to supper with Mr. Robeson. 
Father took out Mrs. Bristed ; Senator Bayard,^ 
Cousin Abby. Two of the others were foreigners. I 
felt very dull, but believe the others had a good time. 
Wednesday afternoon I had a reception, and that 
same evening heard Parepa ^ in " Bohemian Girl." 
Got along very well till the third part, when I could 
have fallen headlong, I was so sleepy. Saturday, 
Father, Cousin A. and your sister M. went to a 
matinee. Your Pater came home as slangy as Win- 
throp Fish, saying and re-saying, " It 's a fraud." 
Every part was shorn and clipped, and the voice of 
the prompter was audible enough to mar all the 
effect. At six he. Father, dined with the territorial 
delegates, and at eight I, thoroughly worn out, be- 
took myself to bed. Sunday I was not out for the 
day, the walking I thought too bad. 

His conduct of the Navy Department was " investigated " by Congress 
but the House Judiciary Committee failed to sustain any charges 
against him. 

' Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, then United States Senator, 
later Secretary of State in President Cleveland's first term and first 
Ambassador to Great Britain. 

^ This was Parepa Rosa's third and last visit to America, her 
death occurring in London in 1874. During her second \-isit she 
married Carl Rosa, her second husband, in 1867 and remained in this 
country four years, attaining great fx)pularity. She was bom in 
Edinburgh in \H-2Q of a Scotch mother and a Wallachian father. 
Parepa's full name was Euphros\Tie Parepa de Boyesku Rosa. 

[ 101 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Yesterday I made calls, the inevitable snow accom- 
panying me in all my visits. In the evening we all 
went to the billiard room for amusement. Cousin A. 
and Father played, and such wild strokes never were 
seen before. I waited until each had pushed along 
six counters, when I descended to the library to read 
Oliver Twist. I believe I wrote you that the billiard 
room has been carpeted, so we have done nothing else 
in the way of furnishing. 

Wednesday morning. 

Emmons got here at ten and a half last evening. 
He missed the train yesterday morning simply be- 
cause he had not been particular about the time table. 
[Rather green in him, your Father thinks. I need 
not say that we have all been alive this morning. 
Your big brother first went all over the house in 
his night gown ; next he put on his coat and trousers 
over his night shirt and again perambulated, and 
lastly he dressed himself en regie and came down to 
breakfast. All we wanted was to have you here. 
Mary Wilson got every dish for Emmons she could 
think of, and to one and all he did full justice. I 
was in hopes I should have an Augusta letter to send 
along with this, but there has been a large mail 
burned at Springfield and I have no doubt my letter 
has gone that way. I am going to have a reception 
to-day. One and all send love. Oceans from mother. 
[ 102] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
I cannot bear to send this paper blank, so I will 
at the risk of repetition say that your Father dines 
with the Japs at the White House this evening and 
that I go at nine to receive with ]\Irs. Grant. I have 
offered to take Emmons, but he will have none of it. 
Also we have Saturday evening a large party of 
gentlemen, over one hundred, mostly members of the 
House. As I shall only receive, I do not dread it 
much. After Mons had had his supper, he and your 
Father went up for a game of billiards. Of course 
Mons distanced his partner a long ways. There is 
a great excitement over the ousting of the Erie ring,^ 
but all this I trust to the papers to inform you of. 
Your Father seems very much opposed to your leav- 
ing Paris. He is anxious for you to be sure of 
French, at the same time he likes to have you do 
everything you want to. If you would like to, he 
would prefer your staying another year in Europe, 
but I do not think I could give my consent. At any 
rate, I should come over with Emmons and travel for 
the summer. 

Good-bye, devotedly, 

MOTHEE. 

* See Mr. Charles F. Adams' and Mr. Henry Adams' very inter- 
esting account of the struggle between Jay Gould, Commodore Van- 
derhilt, and other interested parties for control of the Erie Railroad. 
(Chapters of Erie and Other Essays.) 

[ 103] 



LETTERS OF 



821 Fifteenth St. Washington, March 18th, 

IMonday morniDg. 

My dear Walker, — Another letter from you, 
and no date beyond the unsatisfactory one of Fri- 
day. Just think how your Father must have talked. 
Anything but greenness in my children, might almost 
be his motto ; and here comes Emmons from Andover 
Avithout consulting the New York time tables, con- 
sequently he loses his connection and in consequence 
thei'eof his dinner at home, and his bag which he 
had left in the rack, and before we have recovered 
our breath, comes another letter from you which is 
to be kept for a journal, and yet no date. 

Emmons is having a very quiet but satisfactory 
vacation. He manages just to get up at nine, comes 
down in his Father's slippers, eats a breakfast com- 
posed of his favorite dishes, stands up at the last. 
Is always to be found, when the others go up stairs, 
in the billiard room. About eleven he comes down, 
puts a few finishing touches to his dress, and goes 
off to the Capitol. Lunches there, and is at home 
any time in the latter part of the day. Some even- 
ings he goes to the theatre, often he is at home. 
Last night (Sunday) we all went in to see the Hales. 
Coming home we called at Governor Buckingham's, 
[ 104 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

where we had an old fashioned Yankee visit. To- 
night Miss Ripley dined here, also Mr and ^Irs 
Merrill, Mrs Arms, George F. Townsend and wife 
and George Stinson, a family dinner, but very en- 
joyable I have no doubt. Saturday evening Father 
liad his press company, — over a hundred here. 
Everything to eat and drink that money could buy, 
fine music from the band and a good time altogether. 
No ladies at all. Friday night Emmons went to the 
theatre with George Stinson. I went, for a wonder, 
to the Capitol. Heard little beyond the roll call. 
Thursday your Father got up sick, or rather he 
was sick and did not get up. Some dreadful dish at 
the President's dinner had disagreed with him. I 
had a carriage and went up with him to the Capitol. 
He staid just long enough to call the house to order 
and instal Mr. Dawes ^ in the chair, and then came 
directly home. But the fresh air did him good and 
we at home had a most enjoj^able day. At dinner 
we had several very agreeable gentlemen. Friday 
morning we had more gentlemen to breakfast. From 
these minutire you can see that we are again leading 
a Washington winter. It is company all the time. 
Everything goes very smoothly in the kitchen. 

' Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, fourteen years in the House 
and six in the Senate; then chairman of the Ways and Means 
Committee. 

[ 105] 



LETTERS OF 

Washington, April 2nd, Tuesday morning. 
My dear Walker, — Breakfast is over ; market- 
ing for the day decided on. J'aime and M. rigged 
for out-door play; the baby just flitting out for 
her promenade; Father off for the day. Mr. Sher- 
man reckoning up the month's expenses for me ; and, 
as I am chief referee in this last clause, I will im- 
prove the odd minute by commencing my to-morrow's 
letter to you. Unfortunately I recapitulated every 
item of the last days to Emmons, and now to relate 
them again is renovem dolorem and not to be done 
with any piquancy. Thank God, there are no griefs, 
properly speaking. We are all well, and unusually 
prosperous. J'aime's Httle cheeks are rounded out 
to almost normal health. Nothing fairer or sweeter 
than the little sister can be seen. This afternoon we 
all, or we three, dine at Mrs. Sherman's. I am also 
invited to Lady Thornton's, but the Sherman invita- 
tion coming first, I was pre-engaged. To-night the 
great Calico Ball comes off. My first interest was 
to go to it, but on sober second thought I concluded 
not. I did not care to go into the calico costume, and 
for sweet charity the ten dollars which my ticket 
would cost will go as far as though it went through 
the circumlocution office of a ball. To-morrow I have 
a reception, and as Lent is over, it begins at once to 
be quite a formal affair, including lunch. Thursday 
[ lOG] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I give a lunch to ladies, all Maine ladies ; intend to 
have what Emmons would call a swell table. No 
wines, of course, but round table, flowers, and all 
manner of goodies to eat. 

Yesterday your Father dined with the Japanese 
ambassadors ; dinner very long and tedious, and 
long before the ices made their appearance he was up, 
had slipped out of a convenient door, and was at 
home. 

Easter Sunday we all went, true to our persuasion, 
to hear Dr. Rankin ; were repaid by hearing " Praise 
God Barebones " sort of hymns, a very gloomy ser- 
mon, and not one flower to relieve the chilliness of 
the services. For the children's sake I wish our service 
had more magnetism. M., however, did not wor- 
ship with us. She did her praying with Alice Wood 
at St. Matthews, where her poor little back was 
tortured by having nothing to lean against and 
her poor knees scraped raw by constant kneeling. 
But the music, to use her own words, was just 
lovely. 

Sunday afternoon we had Miss Gary ^ to lunch, 
would have had Nilsson,^ but she had told people who 

» Annie Louise Gary, the famous singer. Her father was Dr. Nel- 
son Howard of Maine, and her mother's name Maria Stockbridge 
Car}'. She married Charles IMorison Raj-mond of New York in 
1882. 

* Christine Nilsson, the famous soprano, a nati%"e of Sweden, made 

[ 107] 



LETTERS OF 

wished to call on her that she would be at home that 
afternoon, so we could not have her. Besides Gary, 
there were here her friend Mr. Fitch, George W. Cur- 
tis,^ Cadwallader ^ and Fanny Washburne. The lunch 
was nice as could be, beautiful flowers, and the com- 
pany very agreeable. I liked Mr. Curtis much better 
than I thought I did, and Gary is full of knowledge 
connected with her profession, — always interesting 
to outsiders. She is from Wayne in Maine. Of 
course the great event of last week was the opera. 
I heard Nilsson twice, Thursday and Saturday in 
Faust and Lucia. Gousin A. heard her twice in 
Mignon and Lucia; Emmons twice in Faust and 
Mignon ; Father all three times. Her acting is 
perfectly superb. It makes me feel that there 
is a remnant of the grande passion left in the 
world. Of her singing I do not feel competent to 

her first visit to America from 1870 to 1872 under the management of 
M. Strakosch and returned in the winter of 1873-74. She sang 
Elsa in "Lohengrin" at Covent Garden, London, but had created 
the part before this in America, the opera being smig in this country 
before it was heard in England. 

* George William Curtis, the well-known author and publicist, 
was in Washington from 1871 to 1874 as one of a ci\-il service com- 
mission of seven members appointed by President Grant. President 
Ha3'es later offered Mr. Curtis his choice of foreign missions, but he 
declined in favor of the presidency of the New York Civil Service 
Reform Association. 

^ John L. Cadwallader of New York, Assistant Secretary of 
State, 1874-77. 

[ 108] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

speak, but when I hear and see acting, I can tell 
whether it is good or bad. I was very sorry Emmons 
could not hear her in Lucia, but he had to start for 
Andover Saturday morning. When you are collect- 
ing things to bring home, if you can pack sizable 
articles, I should like a glove and handkerchief 
box, and a jewelry box to match. Of course I do 
not care more for them than for any other thing, 
only I happen to think of them. You had better 
bring the children, Alice and M., Roman sashes, 
I have so many silk dresses to make over for them. 
The time for your return will very soon be here, as 
your Father fully expects to send for you in June. 
Stick to your French, as I want you to be able to 
speak it. Good-bye for the present. 



Wednesday morning. 
We had a very pleasant dinner yesterday at jNlrs. 
Sherman's. No one there beside the family but Mr. 
and Mrs. Casserly,^ Mr. and Mrs. Doyle,- and Gen. 
Charles and Mrs. Ewing. We stayed so long our 
driver came away, so Mrs. Sherman had to send us 
home. All the letters I send came from Augusta last 
night. As I send them a faithful transcript of every- 

' Eugene Casserly, Senator from California. 

" Mr. and Mrs. John T. Doyle of Menlo Park, California. 

[ 109] 



LETTERS OF 

thing that takes place in the family, I do not see why 
they find fault with my letters. 

Cousin Abby carries on all her work here. She has 
a business and attends to it precisely as though she 
were a man. W pays her for the editing of his mag- 
azine; then she writes for the Plarpers and the In- 
dependent. Mary Caroline Pike is now to be con- 
nected with the magazine. Good-bye my dear boy, 
Most devotedly, 

Mother. 



821 Fifteenth St. Washington, April 0th, Tuesday evening. 

My dear Walker, — While the heavens empty 
themselves of the sweet rain we all are panting for, 
and Mr Sherman, my only company, studies out his 
phonographic page, I will anticipate to-morrow and 
commence a letter to you. 

Notwithstanding the great heat, the three babies 
upstairs are one and all afflicted with colds. Miss 
Sanborn and Annie have been running all evening 
with lumps of sugar, moistened with paregoric, and 
at last the camp is still and I in petticoat and Father's 
slippers and dressing sack, have found my way down 
stairs to the library table. I find Miss Dodge just 
gone upstairs for the night, and Tom Sherman the 
sole occupant of the room. Father is out dining at 
[ 110] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Welcker's^ with Whitelaw Reid of the Tribune. The 
day has been hot and sultry beyond comparison, and 
I who have been out both morning and afternoon, am 
overcome with heat. This morning I was out on er- 
rands intent; this afternoon Miss Ripley, Cousin 
Abby and I went over to Georgetown to call on Mrs 
Cook, and coming back stopped at Mrs Grant's re- 
ception, a moderately handsome reception, — the 
President too sick to be down stairs. Nelly Grant 
has sailed for Europe. She is with Mrs. Borie ; ^ is to 
go wherever her friends go this summer, travelhng 
in Switzerland and other places, and in the fall will 
be in Paris, where she will purchase her trousseau 
and then come home for the winter. This I have 
from her mother. 

Almost everything of the gay kind has come to a 
pause. Yesterday I was out driving a little while 
with Mrs. Hale. Sunday while we were at lunch, 
Mr H came in. He was delighted to see some 
baked beans; sat down, and did to them ample jus- 
tice; then stayed a good two hours. He did enjoy it. 

Last Thursday I had my Maine lunch. Everything 
went off splendidly, seventeen ladies at the table. As 
no one declined, I had my company as originally 

' "Wclcker's," a well-known restaurant at that time, situated on 
Fifteenth Street below H. 
' See page 80, note. 

[Ill] 



LETTERS OF 

planned. Mrs. Morrill came in her bonnet, the only 
one, and was suavity itself. As she went to ]\Irs. 
Bowen's ^ lunch and was the only lady without a bon- 
net, and came to mine the only lady with, I am afraid 
she will think Washington lawless. My table was 
very handsome and the courses many and good. And 
as many of my guests were from boarding houses, 
ample justice was done Marj^'s good cooking. Here 
are the courses: for I am too stupid to write any- 
thing sensible tonight: Oysters on shell, mock turtle 
soup, broiled chicken and fried potatoes, sweetbreads 
and peas, asparagus, Roman punch, partridge and 
salad, ices, charlottes, jellies, sweetmeats, fruits, 
coffee and tea. 

821 FiFiEENTH St., Washington, April 11th, 
Thursday evening. 

My dear Walker, — According to promise, I 
begin my journal letter. Emmons's letter came down 
from the Capitol yesterday, just as I was getting off 
my mail to you, so I put it into the package, though 
I had no time for explanation. As soon as your 
package was off I dressed and went to the Capitol 
with Miss Ripley who had invited Cousin A. and 
myself to drive with her. We heard a not uninterest- 
ing powwow on the Appropriation Bill. Had a very 
pleasant time, and finally came home with Mr. and 

* ]Mrs. Thomas M. Bowen, wife of the Senator from Colorado. 
[ 112] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Mrs. Hale and Father in Mrs. Chandler's carriage. 
Cousin A. coming with Miss Ripley. In the even- 
ing we had callers all the time, while I was re- 
duced by sleepiness and fatigue to the verge of 
insanity. So much for Wednesday. To-day, Thurs- 
day, Miss S. concluded to go to Mt Vernon, so 
directly after breakfast she was off, a little basket 
on her arm, not so snowy white and bare. I took pos- 
session of the nursery, and with Annie for lieutenant, 
had a most delightful, satisfactory morning. Mr. 
Chew, having just sent down from the State Depart- 
ment your most welcome package of letters there, 
March 26th, I have the enjoyment of reading the con- 
tents aloud to Cousin Abby. We sit in her room, the 
red, and M. hangs out of the window and talks to 
J'aime playing in the yard below. The day is like 
a midsummer one. Letters read, I talk over the 
situation, and almost decide I will go with Emmons to 
Europe, but leave this final decision, as I do every 
other, to Father's ultimatum. After dressing we go 
out for calls, among others, Mrs. Butler's and ]\Irs. 
Ames' ^ — the latter looking transccndently beautiful. 
The General insists upon our going up to look at his 
boy, but we do not. I also called at Gen. Humphrey's - 

^ Wife of General Benjainin F. Butler of ^Massachusetts. General 
Butler's daughter. 

* Brevet-Major Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, a graduate of 
VOL.! —8 [ 113 ] 



LETTERS OF 

to attend the reception of his son. At six am on the 
doorstep, and find your Father ah'eady in the house ; 
dinner. Miss Sanborn gets home from Mt Vernon, 
having had an interesting but a lonely day. When I 
come in, your Father sits in the sitting-room reading 
your letters. I open up on the going abroad ques- 
tion. Evidently he will none of it, though originally 
the plan was his. If I go abroad he wants to go with 
me. It js cholera year, and he does not believe in 
being on the Continent this summer. He has made 
up his mind to have Walker come home, and wants to 
see him himself. Besides, his education will be better 
to return now and go again, and he wants Walker to 
go into a French family, stay awhile, and then travel 
a little, returning in June. So you see, my dear boy, 
that you are D.V. — (which Cousin A. says now 
means Dolly Varden) to bring your blessed self home 
very soon. I am so delighted at the prospect, and 
there seems so much to tear myself away from, that I 
am perfectly satisfied. May you be so too. Good- 
night. 

Yesterday got up at eight, dressed myself and 
washed and dressed the baby, who came out from my 
hands like one of those shining ones whose angels do 
always behold the face of my Father. After breakfast 

West Point, at that time chief of the Engineers, U. S. A. He died in 
Washington in 1883. 

[ 114] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Miss Ripley came in to ask Cousin A. and myself to 
go driving with her. Were only too happy to accept. 
Drove on the Avenue and the paved streets generally. 
Did a little shopping and came home in season for 
lunch. Found an elegant bouquet from Mrs. Grant 
awaiting me. Father came home soon after three, 
and electrified me with the information that five 
gentlemen were coming to dinner. As we had 
designed for ourselves only a supper-dinner, you 
may suppose there was no time to be lost. Mary 
Wilson, however, proved equal to the occasion, and 
at the appointed hour all the stated and stately 
courses showed themselves on the board. We had 
Secretary Boutwell,^ Mr. Dawes, Roberts,^ May- 
nard ^ and Kelly. What a thing it is to have good 
and efficient servants. After dinner there was busi- 
ness talk, and Cousin A and I were released from 
attendance. 

Friday we had Governor Perham,^ Mr Frye and 
Mr Bingham ^ to dinner. Very pleasant time. 

1 George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Treasiiry 
under President Grant. 

2 Marshall O. Roberts, the well-known merchant and philan- 
thropist of New York. 

^ Horace INIaynard, Member of Congress from Tennessee. 

* Sidney Perham, Governor of Maine and RepubUcan Member of 
Congress. WiUiam P. Fiye, Representative from Maine. 

* John A. Bingham, Representative from Pennsylvania; special 
Judge Advocate when the Lincoln conspirators were tried, one of the 

[115] 



LETTERS OF 

Monday. 
The day is very rainy. At home till twelve, then 
went down town in waterproof and with umbrella to 
buy a few little things for Miss Sanborn. Made 
safe purchases — a pretty fan, two neckties, and two 
pocket handkerchiefs. Got home too late for ordi- 
nary lunch, and had just sat down for a cup of tea 
to recuperate with, when Mr. Mitchell came in, an old 
friend of your Father's. I myself knew him a little 
eighteen years ago. He was polite enough to say that 
he would have known me anywhere, could not believe 
my hair was at all gray, etc., etc. He stayed about 
an hour, and then it was time for me, as soon as I 
had snatched a hasty cup of tea on my own account, 
to attend to the putting up of Miss Sanborn's lunch. 
As she expected to live out of her lunch basket till 
she reached California, you may suppose that I had 
to have my thoughts about me, or to have, to use a 
favorite phrase of Shepherd Pike's,^ my eyes for my 
charges. However, I filled basket and box; thought 
of paregoric, cologne, wine, pickles, lemons and 

movers for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, and Minister to 
Japan, 1873-85. 

' James Shepherd Pike, diplomatist and author, of Calais, Maine, 
associate editor of New York Tril)une, 1850-60, and United States 
Minister to the Netherlands in 1861-66. He bequeathed $15,000 to 
the Calais Public Library on condition that the money shoukl be used 
to purchase no book that had not been out at least ten years. 

[lie] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

sugar, and everything else which might be required, 
and after a hearty dinner, with Tom Sherman for 
escort to the depot, in the rain and darkness. Miss 
Sanborn did really get away. She has been with me 
fifteen weeks, and I had only one sentiment as the 
door closed upon her, that of unbounded relief. She 
is a good creature too. 

Tuesday. 
This has been a most satisfactory day to your 
Father in the House. Not only has he succeeded in 
getting Mr. Dawes to report from the Ways and 
Means, but after reviewing Mr. Beatty's^ course, the 
House sustained his ruling with only six dissenting 
votes. You will get the whole from the Globe, which 
Tom Sherman sends you by this mail. I don't see 
how I could, but I did forget to chronicle in yester- 
day's journal, that I had just after breakfast a long 

and most dreary call from N . He had as usual 

nothing to talk about but Alabama state claims. 

Heaven knows they are nothing to me. N never 

had any judgment as man or boy, in California, 
Maine or Alabama ; and while the blood in our veins 
is just the same, in taste, association, reminiscence, 
expectation, opinion and manner of life, we are al- 
together opposed. Nothing in common but blood ; 

* Gen. John Beatty, member of Congress from Ohio. 
[ 117] 



LETTERS OF 

and yet he walks into my house as though he had a 
right ; takes me from my family, and gives me abso- 
lutely nothing. Your Father says he seems to stand 
in quite wholesome awe of him, which is really an 
encouraging symptom. In the evening he came again, 
and again yesterday, but this morning has gone to 

Maine on a thirty days' furlough. Poor E (his 

wife!) I pity her. Mrs. Hale called this afternoon 
and took Miss Dodge and myself to call on Mrs. 
Grant. Had the usual pleasant White House recep- 
tion. This evening we have been to the Capitol to 
attend the Morse ^ memorial services, really very in- 
teresting, and your Father presided in a truly hand- 
some manner. For particulars vide Chronicle sent by 
Thomas Sherman. 

821 Fifteenth St., W.ismNGTON, April 21st, 
Sunday morning. 

My dear Walker, — I seem to be up and down 
stairs by myself ; no breakfast ; no famil3^ So I 
improve the shining moment by thinking of the Blaine 
family in France. The difference in the longitude of 
the two continents will not permit me to imagine you 
waiting breakfast or church, but all the same, what- 
ever you are doing or proposing to do, my heart as 
you wander turns fondly to thee. 

* Samuel Finley Breese ]\Iorse, the inventor of the tclcgrai)h, born 
1791. died April 2, 1872. 

[ 118] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Sunday evening. 
I have to begin all over again. It seems hardly 
possible, and yet, I have not been able all day to re- 
sume my letter. We had breakfast of course, then 
immediately came the getting ready for church, then 
church, and services over, home we came. Found 
Martha standing in the bay window, the charming 
little sister on exhibition. Stayed lovingly with her 
till lunch was announced. This over, in came Mr. 
Hale, and at three, Mr. King ^ came by appointment 
to carry your Father and me to drive. Went out to 
Silver Spring, old Mr. Blair's ^ place. Afternoon 
perfect. Roads in good condition, good horses, and 
comfortable open carriage. Father and Mr. King 
occupied themselves entirely with each other. ]Mrs 
K and I did not get beyond our depth with each 
other. I asked her the New York prices of goods and 
she told me. Got home at six, supper at seven. Gen. 
and Mrs. Fry ^ called, and right away Gen. Porter.* 

* Horatio King, of New York, Postmaster-General under President 
Grant. 

* Francis Preston Blair, born at Abingdon, Va., 1791, came to 
Washington in 1830 to establish the Globe newspaper for President 
Jackson as the organ of the administration, and was a member of 
Jackson's famous "Kitchen Cabinet"; also Democratic candi- 
date for Vice-President in 1868. He retired, in the administra- 
tion of Polk, to his farm at Silver Spring, Rid., where he died in 
1876. 

* Gen. James Fry, U. S. A., Provost Marshal General. 

* Gen. Fitz-John Porter. 

[ no] 



LETTERS OF 

The Frys are gone and Gen. P. is now closeted with 
your Father. Baby crying. Good-night. 



Tuesday morning. 
Deae Walker, — I am just through with scrawl- 
ing a letter to Emmons, and now resume my pen to 
perform the same kind office to you. You have no 
idea how cold and backward the spring is. No shade 
yet from the trees, and large fires necessary. Cousin 
Abby and I have at this moment the sitting room to 
ourselves, she reading one of Trollope's stories, I 
writing. The little Blaines have all been out, M. 
to school, the little sister with her nurse and J. 
with his. Miss Sanborn we have heard from as far on 
her weary way as Council Bluffs. If her brother is 
as glad to see her at San F. as I am not to see her 
here, she will have nothing to complain of. Last 
night we had two Mr. Hales from New York, Mr. 
Eugene Hale, Mr. Wadsworth of Kentucky, and Mr 
Ambler of Ohio, to dine with us, also Mr Frye, — 
most delightful company, and as we have been living 
very quietly now for some time, I enjoyed the change. 
Apropos of nothing, one thing I would like to have 
you bring me is a thread lace black parasol cover. 
Get it rather large and have some lady like Mrs 
Washburne to advise you. Your Father says it is 
[ 120 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

not worth while for you to attempt much shopping. 
He would not be willing to have you shirk the duties, 
and with duty you do not gain much. Of course you 
will want to get souvenirs for home friends. If you 
want to get Alice a silk dress, I have no objection. 
I should think fourteen yards would be enough. 
Don't forget M.'s doll. Get the little sister some- 
thing that will last, — a chain and locket, or some- 
thing of that kind, ditto for Alice, ditto for M. 
Get Emmons buttons and studs, as he says he is com- 
pletely out of jewelry. Write to see if your father 
is willing you should bring him home a watch, that 
is, if you think you could purchase to advantage 
there. Does it not seem good to be writing of things 
which look towards home.'' 



Wednesday morning. 

Mrs. Miller told me yesterday at the President's, 
whither I went with Miss Ripley, that laces are now 
very high in Paris but cheap in Germany. Use good 
judgment, therefore, in regard to cover for parasol. 
It is no use attempting anything with this letter. 
My ideas are all wool gathering. My interruptions 
have been numberless. I shall have to trust to the 
contemporaneous correspondence I send with this, 
and to your good heart to make amends for and 
[ 121 ] 



LETTERS OF 

excuse this wretched letter. I saw Mrs. Howard * yes- 
terday at the White House, and with her Mrs B , 

mother of your Andover schoolmate. She was very 
genial to me; inquired for you. She had come on 
from Illinois to see her son, who has been spending 
his vacation with Guy, but he had left Friday and 
Guy Monday. Mrs. Howard ^ said they seemed very 
uneasy about their rooms. I guess thc}'^ had rather 
a dull time with the Freedmen and the babies. The 
General himself is off in the Apache country. We 
got a good letter from him Friday. Good-bye, love 
from everybody, 

Devotedly, 

Mother. 



821 Fifteenth St. Wednesday morning, May 1st, 1872. 
My dear Walker, — I am just congratulating 
myself on an excellent habit lately inaugurated — 
Can a habit be lately inaugurated? — of getting 
up for a half past eight breakfast; so now at 9:15 
we are all at Hberty to go our several ways. Father 
to the parlor, crowded full of gentlemen ; Shcrmy 
to his writing table ; Cousin A. to the baby, the petted 

* Wife of Gen. O. O. Howard, U. S. A. Gen. Howard was at this 
time Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Aban- 
doned Lands — the so-called Freedmen's Bureau. 
[122] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

darling of upstairs, down stairs and my lady's cham- 
ber, M. and J'aime with spade and shovel to the 
yard, and the Mama to her best and dearest of boys. 

Monday evening we three went to hear Aimee in 
Grande Duchesse. She was really fascinating. Her 
dresses are just as pretty as they can be. Altogether, 
with the music and the applause and the pretty 
dresses, I felt myself completely en rapport with her. 
Monday also I went out calling. If I am half so 
persevering in a better cause as I am in returning 
my thousand and one calls, I shall win heaven at last. 

We expect now to adjourn about the 1st of June. 
Do you want me to come to New York or Boston 
or wherever you may come in on your return, to meet 
you? Oh, the joyful day! 

Ever3i;hing political, English and American, seems 

to be in a sort of a snarl.^ But things I believe will all 

come out right. Your Father was so impressed with 

the fatal influence which any concession on the part of 

Mr Fish would have on our political situation, that 

he went in to talk over matters with him Sunday 

•The arbitration of the Alabama Claims, as arranged by the 
Treaty of Washington, was in progress at this time in Geneva, with 
grave danger of failure of arbitration. On ^lay 13th Earl Russell 
said in the House of Lords, — "The case seems to be now between 
the honor of the Crown of this countrj' and tl:e (re-)election of 
General Grant as President." Quoted by J. F. Rhodes — "History 
of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Restora- 
tion of Home Rule in the South in 1877." 

[ 123 ] 



LETTERS OF 

evening. Was there till a very late hour. Commer- 
cial interests bring heavily to bear on the question. 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, May 7th, 1872. 
Tuesday, in the evening. 

My deas Walker, — To-morrow will be your sev- 
enteenth birthday and I ought to write you some- 
thing very good, good in itself, doing you good, and 
good for me to write. But, alas, my surroundings 
are not favorable, for though at home alone, I have 
been lying down with Que J'aime to get him to sleep, 
till all the juice of the poppies is in my eyes. The 
night is very warm too, and light enough to write 
by adds to the heat. Your Father has not been home 
i-ince morning. He dined with Mr. Roosevelt ^ at the 
Congressional, sending word to me by Tom Sherman 
at dinner time to come up to the Capitol and go to 
the circus with him. But as I could not bear the idea 
of leaving the cliildren at their most lonely hour, 
as the circus repelled rather than attracted, I got 
Cousin Abby to consent to make all things straight, 
and myself stayed in this dear home. A third 
reason for staying, and stronger than the two 
others, was that I wanted to write you. 

I shall not attempt any advice to the good boy, 

' Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Democrat, from New York, uncle 
of President Roosevelt, and author of the bill originating the U. S. 
Fish Commission. 

[ 124] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

who I do not believe needs it, for how can one have a 
better guide than conscience? But I do from the 
bottom of my heart thank you, Walker, for all the 
anxiety you have spared me. I have always trusted 
you, so has your Father, and never have you abused 
the trust. Continue ye in this love. 

1 821 Fifteenth St. Washington, May 15th, 

\ Wednesday morning. 

My DEAR Walker, — I do not think you will get 
home to be in this city with us, as we all hope Con- 
gress will adjourn in June. They are so busy now 
in the House that I do not see your Father at all. 
Yesterday, it is true, was almost entirely lost with 
bad management in Committee of the Whole. I had 
such a sense of loss during the day come over me, 
remembering how I had scarcely exchanged one word 
with your Father, that I dressed and went up to the 
Capitol, Cousin Abby with me. But to no good. 
Not only did I not see your Father, but we did not 
even hit the same car, he getting home before me. 
Dinner was hurried, and he left the table for the 
Capitol long before the meal was through. I sat up 
for him till eleven, knowing that he would be quite 
used up with fatigue. He was, and got to bed just as 
soon as he could. I feel that so much strain as he 
labors under cannot be good for him, and while I do 
[ 125 ] 



LETTERS OF 

not dare, from his peculiar temperament, hint at such 
a thing, I try in every way I can to break the con- 
finement. And just now people are constantly com- 
ing to him to talk on the presidential question. What 
can be done with the situation, occupies all heads, 
and some few good people put their hearts over the 
bars. But no pohtics in home letters. We are all 
getting along more comfortably. The weather is 
cooler; the children play both morning and after- 
noon in the square, and are well and happy. I am 
greatly anxious to get to Augusta, but the house will 
not be ready for us for several weeks. Do you think 
you could bring me one large choice engraving for 
the mantel of the hbrary at home.'' Something his- 
torical or classic or fancy even ; of course I would 
have it framed in Boston. How glad we shall be to 
see you at home. Only think how short a time since 
we went out on the Tripoli to Boston Lights. 

I have an invitation to dinner at Secretary Fish's 
next Tuesday. Everything of a society kind seems 
about over, and I am truly sorry to have to look out 
an evening dress again. To-night Gen. Banks and 
a few other gentlemen dine here, entirely informally. 
Monday evening Gen. Garfield, Mr. Freihlenberg, and 
Sargent ^ of California dined here. Your Father is 
much attached to General Garfield. 

* Aaron A. Sargent, bom in Massachusetts; Representative in 
[ 126 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Have just been interrupted by a call from Miss 
Ripley. She is expecting Mr. and Mrs. Goff ^ there 
to-night and is anxious for Cousin A and myself to 
call. Promised to do so. Saturday evening we had 
several gentlemen to dinner, some from Iowa, Mr 
Wheeler from New York, and others. Nice dinner 
and very agreeable people. Friday your Father dined 
with Senator Cameron - at Wormley's. Thursday 
Mr. and Mrs. Charlton Lewis ^ of New York, Judge 
Black,^ Pay Director Cunningham, and Mr. Bridge- 
man of the Boston Advertiser, dine here. Mary 
Wilson goes to Newport the last of the month, and 
then during the few days we may be here, Hannah 
cooks for us. No company then. I take home this 
summer four colored maids. 

Your Father thinks I shall write you about twice 

Congress from California, 1861-73; Senator, 1873-79, and after- 
wards successively Minister to Grermany and Russia. He died 
in 1887. 

» Nathan GoflF of West Virginia. Appointed U. S. District Attorney 
of that State by President Johnson and later Secretary of the ^avy 
under President Hayes; appointed in 1892 by President Harrison 
judge of the 4th U. S. Circuit. 

^ Simon Cameron of Pennsyl\Tiia, Secretary of War and Minister 
to Russia under President Lincoln. 

^ Charlton Thomas Lewis, U. S. Deputy Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue, 1863-64, managing editor of New York Evening Post, 1870- 
71, an authority on prison associations and life insurance. 

* Jeremiah Sullivan Black of Pennsylvania. See also note, page 
236, Vol. I. 

[ 127] 



LETTERS OF 

more. He expects to be in Boston at the Jubilee 
June 20th, also wants to go to Saratoga. Would 
like to have you and Emmons at the Quarterly Cen- 
tennial of his class. Hopes to be in New York to 
meet Walker when he comes. Good-bye, my dearest. 
Lovingly, 

Mother. 



821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON, May 29th, 
Wednesday morning. 

My dearest Boy, — This is about the last letter 
I shall attempt to write. Your Father says he shall 
write once more to you at Liverpool. We are all 
looking forward eagerly to your coming home. Con- 
gress is to adjourn Monday. I am rather expecting 
to get away Wednesday. If it were not for Alice, 
I should stay till the next week, as the house at home, 
is I fear in the direst confusion still. We are all 
very comfortable here; the weather still so cool that 
we feel no impatience for the relief of a more northern 
latitude. Your friend Mr. Gonya has turned up. 
He called to see your Father at the Capitol last 
Thursday. Of course we were very glad to see him, 
first on your account, and afterwards on his own, as 
he proved himself a very nice gentleman. He was in- 
vited to dinner on Friday, and then because of even- 
[ 128 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

ing session it was postponed until Saturday. Satur- 
day we had a round table dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Bates, 
whom you saw in Paris, — they brought letters of 
introduction from Gen. Schenck, — Mr. Shellabarger ^ 
of Ohio, and four ladies from the same state, Mr. 
Packer ^ of Pennsylvania, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale and 
Mr. and Mrs. Ingersoll.^ I went out with Mr. Gonya. 
He felt very badly, as he had come from New York 
with only a business suit on, but of course no one but 
himself cared for that. He said a great deal about 
you, and I was particularly pleased to hear him say 
that you were of great advantage to him because you 
spoke French so well. He called again Monday even- 
ing, but would not come in as we had company for 
dinner. Was very sorry not to see him again. 

Emmons is going with your Father to Washing- 
ton, Penna. the last of June. Am writing him to- 
day to be sure to have plenty of nice clothes. Think 
he finds it almost as hard as you did to get along 
on the allowance. The Hales get away from Wash- 

' Samuel Shellabarger, member of Congress from Ohio. 

* Asa Packer, founder of Lehigh University. 

' Robert G. Ingersoll of Illinois, the famous orator. In Mr. 
Ingersoll's speech nominating Mr. Blaine at the RepubUcan National 
Convention in Cincinnati in 1876 occurred the now historic phrase 
"plumed knight," which became so popular as applied to Mr. Blaine. 
It is interesting to note that Mr. Blauie himself never liked this 
appellation, thinking that it suggested "white feather" as much as 
"Helmet of Navarre." 

VOL. I —9 [ 129 ] 



LETTERS OF 

ington Saturday. Mr. H. was here to dinner again 
Monday. 

As I said in my last letter, do not be particular to 
buy the things I have specified. Anything else will 
do just as well as lace or sash or picture. You will 
find the old house all renovated and everybody I hope 
in the best of health and spirits to meet you.^ 

To Miss Dodge, in Hamilton 

Augusta, July 16th, 1872. 
Mr. Blaine and the boys, the elder ones, have just 
driven off to church — three fans, a cotton umbrella 
and a horse and buggy amongst them. The Papa 
took the umbrella, Emmons drove, and Walker fanned, 
and I only hope they may step far enough heaven- 
ward to pay for the earthly trouble — for Mons in 
harnessing broke out into a heat which nothing could 
allay — his Father in the supreme moment of de- 
parture turned round to tell us how large his head 
felt, while Walker with the prospect of three or four 
favorite girls to flirt with, was eminently content. 
J'aime and M. were in the yard to see them off, 
J'aime all currants and raspberries from his throat 
to the hem of his frock, but clean as to the face, and 
sweeter than honey in the honeycomb ; his last word 

' Walker landed in Boston early in June, 1872. 
[ 1^30] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

to the martyrologists being " Hulloa ! " a greeting 
which they seemed to think a pitiful satire. 

To Mrs. Homan 

Autumn, 1872 (?) 
Dear Neighbor, — The storm prevents my ven- 
turing in, so I take this more formal method of 
inviting yourself, Mr Homan and Mrs Manley to 
tea tomorrow evening at 6-^. Doors open at any 
hour after dinner, company extremely informal ; ex- 
cuses not in order. Do you think it would be more 
christianlike to invite Miss Town? I cannot bear to 
hurt her feelings. If you say so, I shall. Good-bye, 
affectionately yours, with a cough. 

H. S. B. 

Friday afternoon. 



[131] 



1876 



" The session in the House preceding the presidential contest of 
1876 was a period of stormy and vehement contention. . . . Mr. 
Blaine became the subject of a violent personal assault. Charges 
were circulated that he had received $64,000 from the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company for some undefined services. On the 24th of 
April, 1876, he rose to a personal explanation in the House and made 
his answer. He produced letters from the officers of the Company and 
from the bankers who were said to have negotiated the draft, in which 
they declared there had never been any such transaction, and that 
Mr. Blaine had never received a dollar from the Company. Mr. 
Blaine proceeded to add that the charges had reappeared in the form 
of an assertion that he had received bonds of the Little Rock and 
Fort Smith Railroad as a gratuity, and that these bonds had been 
sold through the Union Pacific Company for his benefit. To this he 
responded that he never had any such bonds except at the market 
price, and that, instead of deri\'ing any profit from them, he had in- 
curred a large pecuniarj' loss. On May 2nd a resolution was adopted 
in the House to investigate an alleged purchase by the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company, at an excessive price, of certain bonds of the Little 
Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. It soon became evident that the 
investigation was aimed at Mr. Blaine. An extended business corre- 
spondence on his part with Warren Fisher, of Boston, running through 
years and relating to various transactions, had fallen into the hands of 
a clerk named Mulligan, and it was alleged that the production of this 
correspondence would confirm the imputations against Mr. Blaine. 
When Mulligan was summoned to Washington, Mr. Blaine possessed 
himself of the letters, together with a memorandum that contained a 
full index and abstract. On June 5th he rose to a personal explana- 
tion, and, after denying the power of the House to compel the pro- 
duction of his private papers, and his willingness to go to any extremity 
in defence of his rights, he declared his purpose to reser\-e nothing. 
Holding up the letters, he exclaimed : "Thank God, I am not a.shamed 
to show them. There is the very original package, and with some 



sense of humiliation, with a mortification I do not attempt to conceal, 
with a sense of outrage which I think any man in my position would 
feel, I invite the confidence of forty-four millions of my countrjmen, 
while 1 read these letters from this desk." 

The demonstration closed with a dramatic scene. Josiah Caldwell, 
one of the originators of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, who 
had full knowledge of the whole transaction, was travelling in Europe, 
and both sides were seeking to communicate with him. After finish- 
ing the reading of the letters, Mr. Blaine turned to the chairman of the 
committee and demanded to know whether he received any despatches 
from Mr. Caldwell. Recei\ang an evasive reply, Mr. Blaine asserted, 
as within his own knowledge, that the chairman had received such 
despatches "completely and absolutely exonerating me from this 
charge and you have suppressed it." A profound sensation was 
created and General Garfield said: "I have been a long time in 
Congress and never saw such a scene in the House." 

The RepubUcan National Convention was now at hand and Mr. 
Blaine was the most prominent candidate for the presidential nomina- 
tion. . . . On June 11th, the Sunday preceding the Convention, 
just as he was entering Church at Washington, he was prostrated w ith 
the extreme heat, and his illness for a time created wide apprehension. 
The advocates of his nomination, however, remained unshaken in 
their support. On the first ballot he received 285 votes out of a total 
of 754, the remainder being divided among Senator Morton, Secretary 
Bristow, Senator Conkling, Governor Hayes, and several others. On 
the seventh ballot his vote rose to 351, lacking only 28 of a majority, 
but the union of the supporters of all the other candidates gave Gov- 
ernor Hayes 384, and secured his nomination. Immediately after the 
Convention, on the resignation of Senator Morrill to accept the Secre- 
taryship of the Treasury, Mr. Blaine was appointed Senator to fill 
the unexpired term, and in tiie following winter he was chosen by the 
Legislature for the full ensuing term." 

Appleton's Enq/dopwdia of American Bioijrapliy. 



To Emmons at HiUivARD 

Washington, June 4, 1876. 

I have been very anxious to hear from you to know 
how you were enduring, like a good son, the fiery 
ordeal through which your father is passing. 

Its fierceness no one but himself can know, but 
walking it, he feels peculiarly for you and Walker. 

The defeat in the convention is as the small dust 
of the balance to him, though no one better knows 
than himself the prize for which he was contending. 
But the thought which takes the manhood out of 
him is that you and Walker, who are just entering 
life, may, perhaps, be forced to see, not only all 
your proud and happy anticipations disappointed, 
but yourselves put on the defensive. 

He has been upstairs looking up the order of a 
speech for the House to-morrow, but it is very likely 
it will never be made, as every new-comer has dif- 
ferent advice to give. 

I find it difficult to command my thoughts, but 
there is one thing I must say, though I presume and 
hope you will laugh at my fears. I have been afraid 
you might go into Boston and do something to 
Mulligan ; but you have sense enough to know that 
nothing could be worse for your Father than noto- 
[ 1-35 ] 



LETTERS OF 
riety of that kind. Keep yourself as patient and 
hopeful as you can. ... All of us are well, and your 
father has a great reserve of pluck and resource. 



To Mr. Joseph H. Manley 

Sunday afternoon. 
June 4, 1876. 
Washington. 

My dear Friend, — The only tears I have shed 
in all this bitter time have been over your letter. I 
could not read unmoved what you say of him, for 
you confirm what I have always said, that those who 
know him most, love him best. I dare to say that he 
is the best man I have ever known. Do not misunder- 
stand me, I do not say that he is the best man that 
ever lived, but that of all the men whom I have 
thoroughly known, he is the best. 

You must not think, dear Joe, from the tone in 
which I write that we are cast down, or if cast down, 
discouraged, but can one tread the wine press so long 
alone and not some time give out.'' 

We are full of courage, though perfectly aware 
that now is the crisis. Is n't the suspense hard to 
bear and does it not require almost more than mortal 
wisdom, to decide whether to do, or to leave alone? 
I think Mr. Blaine will decide to do, though before 
[ 136] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

tomorrow, something or somebody may turn him 
from what is now his fixed purpose. But if there 
ever was a time when there were reasons for his being 
nominated, those reasons are doubled and intensified 
by all this precaution. Why should the great Re- 
publican party play into the hands of Confederates 
whether they hail from the farther South or from 
Kentucky ? 

I have never been enthusiastic for the nomination. 
The intensest feeling I had was that it should not go 
to Bristow. But now I want Mr. Blaine to have it 
and to go to it, as it were, on men's shoulders. I 
hate to hate but I am in danger of that feeling now. 
I have written with great abandon and perhaps im- 
prudently but you will confine all I have said to 
yourself. 

If you are staying with Abby, please give her my 
dear love and believe me most sincerely yours, 

Harriet S. Blaine. 

To M. IN Augusta 

Newhall House, Milwaukee,' 
October 26th, 1876. 
Thursday, 3 p. m. 

My dear M., — Yesterday I spent at Peoria, quite 

a memorable day to me. We left Grand Rapids about 

' Mr. Blaine was at this time campaigning for Hayes in the 
Northwest. 

[ 137 ] 



LETTERS OF 

eleven o'clock Thursday morning, reached Chicago 
about eight, had two hours there for supper and a 
little rest. We were met at the depot by some gentle- 
men with a carriage and were driven to the Grand 
Pacific. There I found a beautiful room awaiting us 
and a supper already ordered. The supper was as 
dehghtful as the room, and I had quite a nap in my 
bonnet before we were obhged to move. We reached 
Peoria about six in the morning, and before I had an 
idea we were there, and while still strugghng with my 
buttons, I heard ]\Irs. Ingersoll's well remembered 
voice asking for me. There she was at six in the 
morning, about a dozen gentlemen in attendance, three 
carriages, herself dressed beautifully in a brown silk 
costume, all ready to take us to the very middle of 
her heart and home. I took my overskirt over my 
arm, put a veil over my hair, pinned my crimps, went 
through the introduction with as much dignity as I 
could muster, and was soon at the Ingersoll mansion. 
Eva came running down to the gate to meet us and 
Maude stood at the door. Then there was Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. Ingersoll's mother, a delightful lady 
looking not much older than myself, Mrs. Farrar, 
Mrs. I.'s sister, a young lady of twenty, ^Mr. F. and 
a little girl, a varied and agreeable family. The 
house is large and handsome and handsomely fur- 
nished, but it was as the small dust in the balance com- 
[ 138 ] 



\ 

MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

pared to the hospitality which was lavished upon us. 
Perhaps I never felt so welcome anywhere in my life. 
At ten o'clock Mr. Ingersoll, who had been away 
speaking arrived, and nothing could exceed the 
warmth of his welcome. At nine we had breakfast. 
Mrs. I. had ordered it for seven, but for some un- 
explained cause, which no one seemed to trouble them- 
selves about, it was two hours late. No matter, it was 
a loaded table when we got it. Three kinds of meat, 
not to mention fried oysters, potatoes in different 
styles, cakes, etc. Here arose a difficulty. Mr. Far- 
rar was very nervous, and as soon as he found what 
was expected of him, had disappeared. His wife 
sent for him to wait on the tabic, but he never came 
back, Mr. Blaine did not want to carve, pleading 
that he never did it at home, and was moreover so 
hungry, he should hold out only for three or four 
plates. So Susan Sharker' was called in from the 
kitchen, was introduced to us as Miss Sharkey, stood 
up and served us all impartially to the three prin- 
cipal dishes, not troubling us to give a preference. 
She was a most wholesome, respectable looking woman, 
as indeed were all Mrs. Ingersoll's maids — five — 
and after she had performed the work required of her, 
she withdrew without a word. I took a great liking 
to her. She has lived with Mrs. I. thirteen years. 
The house was thronged with people all day, and 
[ 139 ] 



LETTERS OF 

every man who came In wanted to be introduced to 
me. One woman who came, by the name of Stanlej', 
said she saw I did not remember her, but that I used 
to go to school to her in Hamilton.^ Of course I 
was able to convince her that my name was not Han- 
nah Augusta or Mary Abby. 

In the evening there was a great crowd came up 
to serenade your Father. They gave three cheers for 
Mrs. Blaine also and Mr. Ingersoll did his best to 
make me go onto the steps and acknowledge the com- 
pliment, but I need not say that for this I was too 
modest, so he did it for me. At eleven we came down 
to the sleeping car and went to bed, though we did 
not leave P until one o'clock, reaching Chicago at 
seven. Two nights that I have been in the sleeping 
car. 

We breakfasted at the Grand Pacific, and at once 
left for this city, arriving between twelve and one 
o'clock. Have just had dinner, and Father has now 
gone off to make his speech. I was not prepared for 
the enthusiasm wliich everywhere greets your Father. 
Every attention which can be thought of is showered 
upon him. At breakfast this morning I saw Horace 
Williams, v/ho spoke to me of Uncle Sylvanus's death, 
but I had heard it just before through a telegram 
from Charles Caldwell asking us to come to Alton. 
I have been very much tempted to leave your Father 

* TNvo cousins of Mrs. Blaine's went to school in Hamilton. 
[ 140] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

and spend Sunday with them, but have now given it 
up, as your Father did not quite hke the thought of 
separating. I am very sorry not to have been at 
home at this time. I must not forget to mention 
that at St. Joseph, quite a large town in Michigan, 
where a great crowd had gathered at the depot, I 
was very much taken aback to hear proposed " and 
three cheers for his honored lady, who is also pres- 
ent." Almost as good as " His Lady fanned her 
wounded knight." I think the compliment was very 
likely suggested by Dr. Stratton, an old friend of 
the family from Winslow, who lives in St. Jo. He is 
a man of position I imagine in the community, though 
St. Jo is not a very aristocratic looking place. I 
saw Mr. and Mrs. Frye at the depot here a moment 
this morning. They had come from Green Bay to- 
day and were starting for home. Emma is at Stam- 
ford at school with Alice, and Mr. and Mrs. F go to 
Washington in about four weeks. It seemed quite 
homelike to see them. I must dress now, as some 
ladies are coming to call on me. With love to all, 
most affectionately, 

Mother. 



[ lil ] 



1 877-1879 



The family spent the winter of 1877-78 in Augusta, Mr. Blaine 
being in Washington when his ofhcial duties made it necessary. 



To Miss Dodge, in Hamilton 

Augusta, January 10th, 1877. 

My dear Abby, — I have but a moment. Supper 
is just ready. Mary is waiting for me to decide 
whether it is worth while to open a can of peaches 
for that meal. Jamie is fighting the dogs in the 
kitchen, and Mr B is directing a letter to Miss Mary 
A Dodge, Augusta Maine, in anticipation of your 
winter residence. 

I have a room for you as good as the Chamber of 
Peace, — the windoAvs open to the rising sun, and 
two of them hold the sun while he runs his race. I 
shall give you up the library while the master of the 
house is away. It is never used, and you can take 
possession. In short, I hope to establish you in com- 
fort if not in luxury. So much for what I can do 
for you. What you can do for me goes without say- 
ing. I shall float instead of sinking, shall enjoy in- 
stead of sulking, shall eat and sleep, shall have a 
motive and a stimulus, and shall now and then do j'ou 
the honor to ask your opinion. I ought not to write 
another word, for every thought in my head and all 
the strength of my hands is given to my party of 
Friday evening. What do you think of providing 
standing room and supper for over five hundred 
VOL. I — 10 [ 145 ] 



LETTERS OF 

people? Five hundred will not come, but so many are 
asked, and all the preparations have gone through my 
head. The ices and salads are made out, but our 
kitchen furnishes the rest. Do you know that one 
quart of ice cream will suffice for ten persons, and that 
one quart of oysters will satisfy only five.? Then we 
are making thirty-two charlottes. If this seems small 
and irrelevant talk to 3^ou, remember that you troubled 
Whittier with a new old gown. I hear he refers to it 
as new, but undoubtedly it is the lavender. And by 
the way, you will need that dress here. Augusta is 
not gayless, and I want you to do honor to the family. 
Since I have been writing there has been a fierce storm 
between the Jameses. It ended in a graceful capitu- 
lation on the part of the elder, followed by a perfect 
abandon of affection on that of the less, and H. 
kept time to the march of events by crying her eyes 
out because " Papa was not going to let Jamie go 
to the Exhibition." Do not feel concerned, we ai'e 
all going, a happy family together. Did Mr B. re- 
member to tell you about M. sending Jamie down 
town with five cents to buy her some stick cinnamon? 
He returned with a package of slippery elm. M. 
could think of nothing but Elizabeth's poultices. 
Most affectionately, 

H. S. B. 

[ 146 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
To M., Visiting in IMarquette 

Augusta, August 1st, 1879 
Friday before dinner. 

My dear M., — It is now several hours since my 

dearest daughter took her hegira, and already I seem 

to have volumes to tell her. How the dust of your 

chariot wheels had not subsided before I found myself 

engaged in a little round with Alice, who hoped she 

should never be called selfish again, seeing she had not 

hesitated to give you her lisle thread gloves, when 

yours, through your own carelessness, in the supreme 

moment of your departure, were found wanting. In 

vain your Father assured her that lisle thread gloves 

grew on every bush and that he would make her a 

present of half a dozen pairs — the little maid would 

have her will, and said, " Nay, we are even." And 

then the three who were left, Alice, the Pater and I, 

adjourned to the billiard room, where I looked on 

at this child beating what Emmons and Ely would 

call her Governor out of his boots, dropping her 

cue in the middle of a game and vanishing without 

ceremony, as she remembered that the ice cream for 

her picnic was unordered — and old Barbara Frietchie 

had hardly taken up the cue she threw down when 

Mr. Hale appeared in the door, having arrived from 

Bowdoinham. The minute I saw him, of course I felt 

[ 147] 



LETTERS OF 
anxiety about the dinner, and while I seemed to be 
in the very act of welcoming him with empressement, 
I found myself in close confab with Caroline in the 
kitchen, discussing fish, soup, vegetables and dessert. 
Old Caroline was not to be moved from her serene 
foundations. It requires brains to apprehend, and 
I have always known that hers were all starch. 

Not to tire you with particulars — I had hardly 
resumed my manners in the billiard-room, when Fred 
appeared with the horses to tell me that Emmons had 
gone off in a prodigious hurry, at the last moment, 
to Hallowell, Miss M. was feeling so badly, and that 
he had shouted back to Mr. Sherman to send down for 
him. So as your Father and Mr. H. were by this 
time deep in a discussion over the next issue of 
Honest Truth, I determined to take advantage of 
the carriage and have a drive, so behold me rattling 
down, beneath the fiercest rage of that ten o'clock 
sun, in my white sacque and old silk skirt, sheltered 
only by a parasol, while Fred in front bent forward 
to meet the heat half-way, as lovingly as a fire- 
worshipper. We found Emmons comfortably seated 
in the shade of one of the piers of the bridge, his red 
stockings alone distinguishing him from the common 
tramp. All the women of the little house opposite 
were engaged in watching liim, and if it had been 
anybody but my own son, I should say he was winking 
[ 148 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

at them, but I suppose no son of mine would be guilty 
of such vulgarity. I was pleased enough to find that 
it was not the doldrums on your part, but carelessness 
on his, which had sent him kiting to Hallowell, and 
oh, was it not lucky that Providence sent his fingers 
into his pocket to feel the trunk cheque, to impell him 
to swing himself onto that rear car, before it was too 
late to get it into your keeping ! Who after this will 
say that Providence does not interest itself in small 
things ? Well, good-bye. All things are as they were. 
I am writing at the old desk of blessed Congressional 
memory, and through the open window come from 
the library the dulcet tones of Joseph Manley, the 
undertow of Bigelow, the careful intonations of Mr. 
Hale, your Father's powerful thread, Tom's inter- 
rogations, as he keeps the thread of the letters he is 
answering, and the smoke of Emmons' cigarette. I 
have been into the dining room and have selected a 
tablecloth for dinner, my one effort at good form in 
housekeeping, and now comes H. dressed for the picnic 
in one of her beloved calicoes, to see if she can wade. 
(Do say yes, Mama, — it will break my heart to have 
to stand on the shore and see Tuly going in.) Most 
affectionately, 

HS B 



[ 149 ] 



LETTERS OF 



Augusta August 3rd 1879, 
Sunday noon 

My deab M., — We are just home from doing the 
honors of the Arsenal and the Hospital to Mr. Henry 
Field,^ who came on the eight o'clock train, com- 
ing down from Montreal yesterday, leaving that place 
at 7-^ in the morning. For five weeks he has been 
salmon fishing on the river of Mr Stephens, Presi- 
dent of the Montreal Bank. He is as brown as a 
nut, and came on with all the fishing rods that the 
fashion of the time demands. I need not say that he 
is exactly our old Washington friend, in the new 
setting of Augusta. Tomorrow, he and Emmons 
leave for Mt Desert, via Portland. He looked all 
around the church in search of a face pretty enough 
for Emmons, with a mental reservation for himself, 
I dare say, but saw none worthy of his heart. And 
in fact, our congregation did present rather an un- 
usually unattractive exterior. The Free Will Bap- 
tists had emptied themselves into the pews, but that 
did not improve matters, and after Mr F. had allowed 

his eyes to wander from Mrs C 's and Mrs 

F 's mourning, there was only Deacon Hallett's 

pew within the range of his vision. The music 

' Mr. Henry Field oi Ciiicugo. 
[ 150 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
was good, as it was rendered by Pinkham, but the 
preacher! He was unbearable. It was humlHating 
to find yourself sitting under his voice. He was 
aggravatingly handsome, and posed before us, in a 
thousand attitudes to show off his physique. IVIay 
I never hear of or see him again ! 

Your Father got home at two tliis morning, very 
tired and perhaps a little cross. He had a fine meet- 
ing at Saco, his prominent auditor being Orville 
Baker,^ who turned up from Old Orchard, in attend- 
ance on jNIabcl Boardman, Mr. Phelps's - niece, you 
know, and Alice's school friend. And this morn- 
ing's mail brought Emmons a very nice letter from 
I^Ir. Ellis, which proves a grateful supplement to 
your postal, and I think of you to-day, resting 
and cooling in Detroit, and embarking on the Lake, 
with a satisfaction I could not call up yesterday, as 
I imagined you flying over the torrid belt of central 
New York. 



^ Orville Dewey Baker of Augusta, Attorney-General of Maine; 
1885-88; died 1908. 

^ (Sometimes referred to in the Letters as William Walter, or 
W. W. P.) William Walter Phelps of New Jersey represented the 
Ent^lewood District in Congress in 1873-75 and 1883-89; was 
United States INIinister to Austria in 1881-82, to Germany 1889-93; 
lay judge of the Court of Errors and Api^eals of New Jersey, and 
represented America at the Samoan Conference in Berlin in 1889. 
He died at Teaneck, N. J., 1894. 

[151 ] 



LETTERS OF 

6:30. Emmons, your Father, Mr. Reed/ and Mr. 
Field, — you see I do not pay much attention to 
precedence — have just started on a drive, your 
Father holding the reins. As Mr. Reed is on the back 
seat, imagine the way in which his eyes will wander 
from those horses. And H. has just come driv- 
ing into the yard with Fred, who has been up to 
Aunt Emily's for cake, and who now has gone to 
take his little Emily to drive. And I have got 
through the afternoon by taking a nap on my sofa, 
by a pitcher of lemonade under the trees, by a chap- 
ter or two in Our Mutual Friend, and best and last 
of all, by a telegram which that dearest and best of 
youths, Philip Ely, has sent me from Detroit. It 
seems as though I had been in your visible presence, 
and it has done me a world of good. Excepting the 
telegram, the afternoon has been rather flat. 

H SB 

Augusta, August 5th 1879 
Tuesday 10:30 a.m. 

My dear M., — I am just through with a great 
scare, it is this, it is this ! Your Father had a note 
from Mrs. L this morning, to the intent that she 
and Mrs F would pass through town on their way 
from jNIt Desert and would be glad to see him at 

' Thomas B. Reed of Maine, afterwards Speaker of the House. 
[ 152] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

the station. Of course he went down all prepared 
to bring them back with him, but luckily for me, 
Mr. C, Mrs, L.'s father, is due this morning, so 
I had the satisfaction inexpressible, as I was watch- 
ing stealthily from the sitting room window, to 
see your Father driven up in state by Frederick, 
but no lovely bonnets or feminine hats brightening 
the void at his side. For the heat is intense, and to 
sit through all the hours of this scorching day, in 
one of my many black dresses, not thoroughly inter- 
ested for one moment, but wearisomely polite in 
every one, seems, now that I know it will not have to 
be, more than I could bear. Old CaroHne too has a 
reprieve. The family consists of your parents, Alice, 

Jamie and H , and Mr Sherman. Life has lost 

all its flavor. I cannot eat. I have dyspepsia, and 
as a consequence everything is stale, flat and un- 
profitable. My state of mind is perfectly senseless 
as you will discover, but it is due to the stomach, not 
the heart, so I will not apologize for it. And I have 
had another letter from Mr. Bishop,^ and the Bishops 
will not stop on their way to Moosehead, but on their 
return. I am so glad for Emmons, who went away, 
feehng that he was hardly doing the fair thing by 
me to run away just as they were coming. 

' William Darius Bishop, Member of Conpjress from Connecticut, 
and president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford R. R. 

[ 153 ] 



LETTERS OF 

The same mail which brought Mrs. L's note, 
brought me a letter from Mr. Ely at Rochester, 
— thank him for it, and ask him to send me word 
what of his wardrobe was left behind, and I will have 
it looked up, if it still lingers in the land of the leal, 
of which I have doubts, as Emmons was obliged to 
start for Bar Harbor yesterday with one of his own 
handkerchiefs, one of his Father's and one of Jamie's. 
Their united wardrobes could only furnish the three. 

Saturday August 9th. I have no idea, my sweet- 
est daughter, what is already written on this paper 
as it has been laid aside for days, but no good thing 
is to be lightly flung aside, so I resume on its unoc- 
cupied space, and proceed at once to tell you that it 
is Saturday afternoon, and warm though not too 
warm, and that I am alone in the parlor, and that 
Aunt Emily in solitary state is in the library, and 
Aunt Caddy in Alice's room, and Aunt Susan is 
driving AHce up to Mr. Farwell's. Mr. Frye ^ was 
here to breakfast — he came yesterday afternoon and 
spoke in the evening. I went to hear him and was 
quite captivated. He and your Father have now gone 
to Mt. Vernon, driving over. They are to reach 
home about nine, and Mr Frye drives over to Lewis- 

' William Pierce Fn-e, at this time Member of G)ngress from 
Maine ; later he succeeded Mr. Blaine in the Senate. 

[ 15i ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

ton in the morning. Just before they got away, 
]\Ir Hale turned up, dined with us, and now he has 
left for Norridgewock, and Tom Sherman too has 
gone off, so were it not for the Aunts, the two 
Harriets would represent the state. 

AtTGtTSTA, August 13th 1879 
Wednesday afternoon. 

My deae M., — This letter will treat of the Hon. 
Zachariah Chandler. He arrived yesterday morning 
at ten, and as he came up the steps Mr. Bodwell,^ 
whom I never expected to regard with feelings of 
lively gratitude, appeared to invite him to Hallowell 
to inspect the granite works there. It is so unusual 
for me to receive any assistance in the entertainment 
of a \dsitor, that my first feeling when I saw them a 
few minutes later, driving off together, was, that I 
had been defrauded. Interrupted by a call from Her- 
bert Davis, who is in Augusta, writing up his uncle's 
affairs, and who I sincerely hope will write himself 
into his uncle's will. Emmons invited him to come 
down to-morrow to play tennis, and I supplemented 
the invitation with another from myself to take tea. 
To revert to Mr. Chandler — he has gone ; he went at 
ten this morning, or rather at nine, as at that hour 
Emmons took him over to see the Lambard mansion. 

^ Joseph Robinson Bodwell of Hallowell, Governor of Maine 1887; 
died in office on December loth of that year. 
[ 155 ] 



LETTERS OF 

I went to Granite Hall last night to hear him, and 
sat directly behind Juha Armitage. She has grown 
into a most beautiful, graceful girl, quite a young 
lady. Mrs. Baldwin and Mrs. Johnson, her aunts, 
had been over in the afternoon to call on Mr. Chand- 
ler, and were at the hall, so we all sat on the plat- 
form together. Now, I am just up from down town, 
and Milhe is putting supper on the table, so I hurry. 
Aunt Emily is here. She has come down to see if 
Alice and H will go to Squirrel Island to-morrow, and 
they are going and I have asked Maud and Bess to go 
too, and they have accepted, and I have bought a new 
lunch basket and bananas and peaches and pears, and 
five cents worth of caramels, and a bottle of blacking, 
and elastic, — was there ever a picnic when I did not 
have to buy hat elastic? — and blueberries for tea. 

And Mr. Chandler says fish pudding is a Michigan 
dish, so perhaps it was Ellsworth that borrowed, and 
not Marquette. At any rate, we had a very nice 
one for dinner to-day, only there was no one to eat 
it, nor the broiled chicken which came after. I could 
not even venture on my usual wing, greatly to Em- 
mons's disgust, who declared his own appetite affected 
by my lack of sympathy, and there was no one but 
Tom to help out, as Father came on the four o'clock 
train from Vassalboro', having had a charming day 
on his travels, spending two hours at Brunswick. 
[ 156 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Altogether he had quite a splendid time, and when 
he got onto the train there were Judge Rice and Mrs., 
returning ignobly by rail from Rockland, for the 
party which left Augusta so gaily in coach and four, 
as one might say, only got as far as Rockland. There 
the cream-colored ponies fell sick, there also Judge 
Rice lay down, Mrs Rice also, and Mrs Goodwin, and 
yesterday Mrs G. drove home all the " teams," and 
the patriarch of the tribe came to-day with his wife, 
very bright and very happy to find himself travelling 
in orthodox fashion. Emmons came on the Pullmfin 
at 2 o'clock yesterday morning. As usual I got up 
and unfastened the door, then went to his room to 
find that Maggie Nurse had forgotten to light it 
and remove his shams. By the way, the Honorable 
Zachariah took an afternoon nap on his yesterday, 
and a shocking sight they are to-day. So I amused 
myself by repairing Maggie Nurse's neglect, then 
went to bed again till five, when I got up to get up 
your Father, who at six left for Vassalboro'. With 
great devotion and difficulty I got him down stairs 
in season to make a comfortable breakfast, when I 
delightedly passed him and his bag and his winter 
overcoat and Emmons's summer one, and his own 
alpaca, into Frederick's hands, who speedily but with 
much anguish for the old phaeton, conveyed him to 
the station. But I am forgetting Mr Chandler. He 
[157] 



LETTERS OF 

is my text. He made a very good speech Indeed, 
though when Joseph Manley at the table just now 
said that he gave the best illustration of the bond- 
holder he had ever heard, your Father declared he 
took it bodily from a speech he made last fall in 
Detroit. 

Augusta, August l-ith 1879 
My DEAii M., — Here I am sitting up in my best 
black summer dress, which however is fast taking on 
a shining face, preparatory to a tea drinking with 
Herbert Davis, but alas ! instead of a long table 
where face answers to face, all up and down the 
sides, only us four and no more, will sit down to 
our fried chicken to-night ; for at six this morning 
Alice and H got off to Squirrel Island, and a time 
we had to get them off, as we slept till five and a half, 
and there were Maud and Bess and Alice Farwell and 
Aunt Emily to collect on the way. 

Emmons alone has represented the junior part of 
the Blaine family, and has most agreeably fulfilled 
the function, correcting proof for Honest Truth, 
reading, endorsing and sending telegrams, borrowing 
my last V to send to John Goodenow, of whom he had 
borrowed one at Old Orchard, tearing down town a 
dozen times for his Father, carving a mighty sirloin 
of roast beef for dinner, the knife so sharp it went 
[ 158 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

into it like butter, to use liis own words — for I have 
myself bought a whetstone and instructed Millie in 
its use, and I only wish Philip Ely of blessed memory 
were here to use the carver, — playing billiards every 
minute in which your Father found a minute to whistle 
" For he might have been a Prussian " and to hold a 
cue, and finally getting your Father to the station 
with his three coats and his bag — though I packed 
the bag, and Maggie Nurse collected the coats, and 
Millie and Maggie and Tom and Emmons and I all 
joined in the search for the hat, which finally, retain- 
ing its crown and rim, when any respectable hat 
would have given up the ghost, was found under all 
the newspapers and all the books, having evidently 
been used all day for a cushion by every sitter down 
in the library. I hovered on the outskirts to bid him 
good-bye, afraid to come recklessly to the front lest 
he should want some money, and I have only three 
silver quarters in my dear little purse, that cunning 
little leather pouch which Jamie gave me, and, ]\I., I 
have drawn so much money this month, how can any- 
one who never listens to or enters into a detail, under- 
stand it.? But M. is off on her travels, and Jamie on 
his, and Emmons has been, and AHce and H to-day, 
and from the grain that feeds the horses to the butter 
that spreads the bread, I pay for everything. I often 
think I am the heart, I feed the arteries, I fill the 
[ 159 ] 



LETTERS OF 

veins, if I stop pulsating it is death, for debt is death. 
But Father is gone, and I have my siller, and all day 
it has rained in showers, and though Emmons is 
marking out his tennis, an immense cloud is lowering 
exactly over the lawn. 



Sunday afternoon August 17th, 1879. 

My dear M., — I have but a moment in which to 
write. Mr. and Mrs. Hale and Clarence are here, 
and i\Ir. Smalley ^ of the New York Tribune, and 
Dr Updegraff ^ of Iowa have been here to dinner, 
which is just over, and now Emmons has gone to 
sleep in his chair, with one of his dreadful headaches. 
It is very rainy and cold — two furnace and two 
open fires attesting to the truth of my statement. 

Mrs H, Clarence, Emmons, H and I went to 
church and heard Mr Ecob preach an admirable ser- 
mon, and I have stolen into the annex while the doctor 
prescribes for Clarence, simply to tell you that your 
Father is unalterably opposed to Walker's going to 
Marquette. I presume arrangements can and will be 
made for you to return by the way of St Paul, and 
tomorrow, I intend to set myself vigorously to work, 
to find out about passes, routes, etc., and shall then 

' E. V. Smalley, correspondent of the New York Tribune. 

^ Thomas Updegraff, Republican member of Congress from Iowa. 

[ 160] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

send the result of my investigations to you. The 
Hales leave to-morrow afternoon and the Camerons 
come next Friday. I shall be really delighted to see 
Philip Ely again in Augusta, and will write him to 
say so myself. Emmons starts off speechmaking in 
about a week. 

H S B 



To Walker, in St. Paul 

Augusta, Aug. 18 1879, ]\Ionday. 
My dear Walker, — M. objects to her letters 
going through St Paul, She imagines it gives them 
a stale flavor, and probably they are not as appetiz- 
ing to you as a dish prepared for your own palate. 
Be this as it may, I write now to you as collectedly 
as may be, with Mr. Davis ^ (Governor) and Mr. Bart- 
lett in the room. The conversation too is on Maine 
politics, that most interesting and discouragmg of 
topics, for here are the Democrats coming into the 
conventions and capturing the Greenbackers in vari- 
ous counties, and your Father so occupied that after 
he emerges from his chamber in the morning, I do 
not require nor receive so much civility as a word 
from him, and sometimes I am so deeply disgusted 

» Daniel F. Davis, Governor of Maine 1879-80, died in 1897. 
VOL.1 —11 [ 161 ] 



LETTERS OF 

with American politics, our whole system of popular 
government, with its fever, its passion, excitement, 
disappointment, and bitter reaction, that any sphere, 
however humble, which gives a man to his family, 
seems to me better than the prize of high place. 
Mrs. Hale came Friday evening with your Father, 
who boarded the train on which she was, not at Etna, 
but at Newport, — he having — after being driven 
to Etna from East Corinth — procured a ride for 
himself on a handcar to Newport, that he might see 
Mr. Dexter about the old wagon. The night was 
dark, and first he lost his hat, for which they re- 
traced their steps some half mile, and then his bag 
was found missing, and for this they went back two 
miles, but found it not ; but the next morning at ten 
the express delivered it, much the worse for its travels, 
the Pullman having gone over it. The contents were 
found spilled along the side of the track. One shirt 
was cut all to pieces, the toilet apparatus was never 
found, and the bag was ruined. But it never seemed 
to enter his dear head that the escapade was a risky 
and foolish one and not to be expected from a man of 
his habits. And although he saw Mr. D., he forgot to 
ask the price at which the wagon was sold, so we are 
in as much uncertainty as ever. Clarence came from 
Portland and spent Saturday with us, stopping in 
Gardiner to hear Eugene speak that morning, and 
[162] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
Emmons drove down after tea in the darkness and 
rain, carrying along Mr. Updegraff. Do you know 
who he is.^* And at eleven or shortly after, they all 
arrived at this hospitable mansion, where a couple of 
bottles of champagne and a good supper helped out 
the welcome which was awaiting them. 

While at breakfast yesterday, Mr. Smalley's card 
of the N. Y. Tribune was sent in. Your Father was 
not up, but Emmons saw him and told him where to 
go to church and invited him to dinner at two. The 
day was dreadfully rainy, but Mrs H, Clarence, 
Emily, H, and I, braved the discomfort of a wet ride 
for the sake of hearing Mr. Ecob, who gave us a 
delightful sermon. And then we came home to find 
your Father still in bed, where he stayed till dinner 
time, when he got up and came down to enact the 
host in his most delightful manner, carving, talking, 
making welcome in his own inimitable way, till Mr. 
Smalley only tore himself away to write his letter to 
the Tribune (which I hope will be good reading to 
you some morning in the St. Paul Gazette) coming 
back to tea, while Mr. Updegraff made no pretence 
of going, but stayed right on till eleven o'clock. 
Mrs. Milliken came to tea and sang hymns and Pina- 
fore all evening. 

Clarence went this morning, and your Father and 
Updegraff and Smalley and Gov. Davis to Winthrop 
[ 163 ] 



LETTERS OF 

at one, first having a hearty dinner here, and then 
at four Mr. H. left for Waterville, and it has rained 
and rained and rained ; and now, at eleven in the even- 
ing, Emmons has just gone for Mr Hale, and the 
Winthrop team has returned and they have all had 
supper here ; and now with the heavens opening and 
the floods descending, Emmons returns, bringing Mr 
Hale and followed by Dow bringing up Mr. Dobson 
and Mr, Campbell, who are to go back on the Pullman 
and who will spend the intervening hours in the 
library. The Camerons are coming next Friday. I 
am glad this dreadful rainfall will be over before 
they come. 



To Miss Dodge 

New York, November 9th, 1879. 
Here I am, having a most delightful second visit. 
Mr. Blaine is with me. We are just from church, 
all but Mr. Blaine, who spent the precious hours in 
which I was learning how to bring up a family, in 
writing an article, as many pages of closely covered 
manuscript lying on the table testify ; and as the 
children are too old to be now set in other grooves, 
perhaps he is the happier for not being made to see 
how much we have left to nature and to Providence, 
[ 16M 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
which we ought as parents to have pursued and 
trained. Mr. Blaine, as you know, is in the best of 
health and spirits, while Grant is booming along, and 
welcome, if I were the only one to be consulted. 



To Emmons 

Augusta, November 21st, 1879. 

This is one of my tavern weeks — the board being 
spread for all who come. The Republican crowd 
melted away by Wednesday, Mr. Reed going that 
day at noon. The last news, or report of the 
situation, is the convening of the Superior Court at 
Augusta, Monday, the Chief Justice in the chair — 
though that is not the name of his seat. 

Your Father is in the best of spirits, though what 
is to be the end of this audacity ^ no one knows. He 
expects now to leave town Sunday, though I do not 
believe he can. George Weeks and Mr Sprague are 
now in consultation with him in the library. Have 
you an overcoat for Mr. Brown.? If you have not, 
I shall be under the painful necessity of giving him 

' Referring to the famous "State Steal," an effort made by the 
Democrats to count in fraudulently their candidate, Alonzo II. Garce- 
lon, as governor, instead of Daniel F. Davis, the rightfully elected 
candidate. 

[ 165] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
a new one, as I cannot see him drive in your Father's 
old blue flannel. Is the heavy overcoat hanging here 
yours, and shall I give it.? It looks too handsome. 
Caroline has cooked 250 chickens since July, and is 
now beginning on turkeys. She is more to be dreaded 
than the foxes, which have killed off all the Caldwell 
turkeys, on which I always depend for Christmas. 
My pen will not permit of further writing, but my 
love knows no limitations. 



[ 166 ] 



1 880 



"As the presidential convention of 1880 approached, it was 
apparent that Mr. Blaine retained the same support that had adhered 
to him so tenaciously four years before. The contest developed into 
an earnest and prolonged struggle between his friends and those who 
advocated a third term for General Grant. The convention, one of 
the most memorable of American history, lasted through six days and 
there were thirty-six ballots. On the first the vote stood : Grant 304, 
Blaine ^84, Sherman 93, Edmunds 34, Washburne 30, Windom 10, 
Garfield 1. On the final ballot the friends of Blaine and Sherman 
united for General Garfield, who received 399 votes to 30G for Grant, 
and was nominated. On his election, Islr. Blaine was tendered and 
accepted the office of Secretary of State." 

Appletoris Encyclopadia of American Biography. 

Mr. Blaine remained in Washington, though he was urged to be 
present at the convention in person, and his telegram turning over his 
two hundred and fifty delegates to Garfield gave the latter his nomina- 
tion. Before election President Garfield appointed ]Mr. Blaine 
Secretary of State. In his letter of acceptance, December 10th, 1880, 
Mr. Blaine wrote: "I wish you would say to Mrs. Garfield that the 
knowledge that she desires me in your Cabinet is more valuable to me 
than even the desire of the President-elect himself. Indeed, I would 
not think of going into the Cabinet at all if Mrs. Garfield was not 
friendly and favorable. Please read this letter to her and her alone." 



To M., AT Farmington 

Fifth Avenue Hotel 

New York, May 15th, 1880 

Saturday evening 

Dear M., — Your Father is dining out with Mr. 
Reid/ who has a dinner party, and I, after taking 
mine with Mr. Hale, who has since left for Boston, 
find myself alone in the most untidy room in New 
York. I have picked up and picked up, till, hope- 
less of improvement, I now sit surrounded by bundles, 
cards, newspapers, letters, wardrobe, and everything 
else pertaining to hotel life of a week's duration. 
The mantel is decorated with a long line of bouquets, 
some of them faded and some of them fresh, and all 
depending in more or less drunken attitudes from 
various tumblers. Bandboxes adorn the sofa, my 
shawl and your Father's overcoat occupy two chairs, 
his brown gaiters are on the what-not, a long rock 
of granite, which has been bored out from under this 
hotel, adorns one corner, three parasols, one mine, 
one Alice's, and one a broken down thing belonging 
to one of Muscovite's & Russell's women, the three 
others. A likeness of the candidate, for which I have 
had to pay a V, looks down darkly from among the 

» Whitelaw Reid of New York, etJitor of New York Tribune; 
Minister to France and present Ambassador to Great Britain. 

[ 1^9 ] 



LETTERS OF 

flowers, and string and wrapping paper and the 
press of New York meet the tired eye, turn it where 
it will. This afternoon I have been to the matinee to 
see Neilsen in " As You Like It." 

Sunday: The Chandler party put an end to my 
writing last night, and now just home from Dr Col- 
lier's church, I will add a line to say good-bye. I 
have had a good time in New York, but now am 
anxious to go back. Probably, however, we shall 
stay till Wednesday. I do not know what to say 
to you about the week of the Convention and com- 
ing home. I wish you would conclude yourself to 
stay. I am almost sure a combination will be made 
against your Father, and then I would rather you 
were in Farmington. You must write to your Father 
personally and let him decide. I have thought lately 
he would get it, but now I am very doubtful. His 
rivals are desperate. 

With love, 

H S B 



(Fragment) 

Mr. Sherman was waked by messenger from the 
telegraph office, who told, from the sidewalk below, 
that there was great excitement in Chicago, and they 
[ 170] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

thought Mr. Blaine ought to know It. They had 
been up once and found it impossible to rouse any- 
body ; " the incidental mention of Blaine's name by 
a Californian roused gallery and convention to wild 
cheering for five minutes." Then Mr. Hale tele- 
graphs : " The Grant men made a point of seeing 
who could howl loudest and longest, and cheered and 
hurrahed and waved flags for fifteen minutes — Con- 
kling himself condescending to wave. After they 
had tired themselves out, the Blaine men took it up 
and shouted twenty minutes." Mr. Hale says the 
Grant men got enough of it. Four of their tallest 
men mounted on settees and Hale mounted on their 
shoulders and waved the flag, expecting every minute, 
he said, that he should fall and break his neck. Think 
of the position for a man who is not an acrobat ! 
Meanwhile Mr. Blaine went off" to bed dead sleepy, 
and is this morning reading the papers with pro- 
voking indifi'erence. He is not, of course, indifl'erent, 
but he is self-possessed, and when I heard him talk- 
ing yesterday, with all the force and fire of the 
Senate, I thought it was a pity to take him away 
from the Senate after all. Mr. Chandler telegraphs, 
as things are now he considers the chances of ]\Ir. 
Blaine's nomination as 4 to 1, but not to be counted 
on till it comes. 

[ 171 ] 



LETTERS OF 
To Emmons, at the Harvard Law School 

Augusta, June 27th, 1880. 

Dear Emmons, — You cannot imagine how de- 
lighted I was to get your letter this morning, as I 
have become really anxious to hear from you. For 
do you know, this is the first line you have sent me 
since I reached home. 

Orville Baker and Joseph Manley have just gone 
from here, where the former has taken tea. I wish 
to take advantage of the Pullman which to-night com- 
mences its Sunday trips, and get you to do me a 
favor or two. First, will you see what you can get 
a little pony carriage for? I do not mean a donkey 
cart, but a little phaeton or something of that kind, 
also a saddle and a harness. H's pony came last 
night, and is the dearest Uttle thing you ever saw, 
perfectly docile and without a flaw, four years old, 
and will weigh, I think, about 500 lbs. If you will 
find out the several costs, I will decide how far I 
think I can go. H. is in ecstasy over him, and 
Jamie has been leading him about all day, calling 
with him on Will North and perambulating the back 
and front yard. I have written thanking Mr Cameron 
for the pony. I enclose you a card which came to 
you from the Arsenal. Alice and I are invited. I 
have no idea when your Father will turn his face home- 
[ 172] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

ward. The Hancock ^ nomination makes Garfield's 
prospects problematical in the extreme. It has been 
very hot to-day. I enclose a letter from your Father, 
though I have somewhat anticipated its contents. I 
shall be delighted to see you. With love, 

H. S. B. 

To M., AT Farmington 

Augusta, October 19th 1880. 
Dear M., — Yesterday in anticipation of your 
Father's return, I washed up all the pens, cleaned out 
all the inkstands, and laid out such supplies of paper, 
envelopes, stamps, etc., as our limited supply of sta- 
tionery would permit. All this I did on the hope 
and supposition, based on a letter written almost a 
week ago, that he would be home Monday afternoon. 
And sure enough, while we were at dinner, came the 
telegram, bearing the welcome date of Portsmouth, 
so at 3:35, the schedule time now of the arriving 
afternoon train, Emmons and I had the satisfaction 
of seeing him emerge, bag in hand, from the car, 
smiling and well, and full of enthusiasm for Garfield 
and the Republican triumph. Need I say, that we 
brought him home with banners flying, and that the 
Queen of hearts flew around and got him some sup- 

1 Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock, U. S. A., was the 
Democratic candidate for President in 1880. 

[ 173] 



LETTERS OF 

per, or dinner, whichever you choose to call it, for 
he had spent Sunday at Hamilton and had been sent 
away on eggs! But there! Tread lightly on poor 
Cousin Abby's ashes, for she has reason to sit in 
them herself, having made the mistake of criticising, 
in public letters, the course of the Boston Advertiser 
towards the Woman's Deposit Company, and here it 
is, all broken up — and the President and Cashier 
arrested, the money lost, and the principal sho^vn 
to be one of the most abandoned wretched adven- 
turers on the face of the earth; so that C. A.'s 
name seems to be associated in the minds of the pub- 
lic, and a losing public, which is never goodnatured, 
with that of a woman viler than V. W., and it is 
one of those unfortunate cases which no one can help. 
To sympathize with her, is to pain her so much, 
that Father all the time he was there, never ventured 
to speak of it. 

Emmons is to go to Chicago and into the railroad 
business. Will enter Mr. Hughitt's office. Mr. 
Hughitt is the General Manager of the N.W.R.R. 
and Emmons will take his chance in showing what is 
in him — if good, then promotion, if no aptitude, 
then the acceptance of that humiliating fact. He 
was to go the first of November, according to your 
Father's plans, but as he has accepted an invitation 
from Lila Cameron to be usher at her wedding on 
[ 174] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

the 18th of that month, he will not enter upon his 
new field quite so soon. If he could only make up his 
mind to stoop and bend to his work, I should have 
no fears, but he cannot work playfully and bring 
anything to pass, which reminds me of yourself. 
In doing, there is great reward. I cannot imagine 
your not loving to study. And if you will study, 
you will learn. If you learn, you will be learned. If 
I could only have known, when your age, the high 
plane on which I should deploy, I might have been 
the equal in attainment of any woman in Washing- 
ton, and oh, that it had been given me to know in 
that my day ! 

H SB 

Augusta October 24th, 1880. 
Dear M., — How are you and how have you 
spent your Sunday.'' This is how it has spent itself 
with the old folks at home. First, a good breakfast, 
at which everyone came strolling in as suited him or 
her best. Then church, which, beginning with me, 
who always go, rounded up with Philip and Emmons 
and Jamie, Alice, H. and your Father. Mr. E. 
gave us an old sermon, which, never good, is now 
poor, and then we picked up Aunt Susan and made 
an unsatisfactory call on Green Street, and then came 
[ 175] 



LETTERS OF 

down to all the brightness and warmth and good fel- 
lowship of home. Orville Baker had come down with 
Emmons and dined with us. Need I say that the 
dinner was good.-^ And your Father was bright and 
full of talk, as was everybody else, and after a while 
Emmons and Philip started in the buggy, with two 
robes it was so cold, for Gardiner, nor are they yet 
returned, having stayed there for supper. And these 
familiar exercises have been varied by calls from 
Bigelow, Mr, INIanley and all the Manley children. 

But after all, we are not exactly gay. Emmons 
is sober over his proposed experiment in Chicago, 
and Philip is going away Friday, which coming de- 
parture seems to cast its shadow before, and your 
Father cannot help, at odd moments, falling back into 
reveries over the past and what he fancies its mis- 
takes, so that although not blue, we are serious, which 
is better than being frivolous. I have not a word of 
anything like news to tell 3'ou, and I know I ought 
to fill up the remainder of this sheet with advice, but 
will you not consider it all said? You know that it 
hurts me to part with you, and why I do it, and that 
the habit of reading and study and fixing the atten- 
tion is more valuable than the knowledge you will 
acquire at school, though that is something worth, 
and I lay on you the burden. 

[ 176] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

AuGTTSTA October 25th 
Dear M., — The day which I had intended 
giving to Emmons' night-shirts, has gone to his 
friends. " That poor boy," Maggie Nurse says, 
" has nothing to be sick in if he should be taken,'* 
so I made up my mind early this morning to devote 
my last yard of Willimantic to him. But up speaks 
the telephone and Gardiner calls for Emmons, and 
he listens, and then I hoar him say, " All right, I will 
meet you at the station. We shall be dehghted." 
And it needs not my prophetic heart to tell me that 
we shall have company to dine. Yes, Mrs. Richards 
and Miss Thornton will come up in the dummy to dine 
and to drive, and I must hie me to the kitchen and to 
Caroline, for ducks and a steak are not enough for 
hungry visitors. Here is my bill of fare — Soup, 
roast beef et cetera, ducks, celery and jelly, apple 
pudding, mince and apple pies, grapes and pears, 
coffee, claret and champagne. Everything well 
cooked, Emmons carving beautifully, then the drive, 
Phihp of course making the fourth. And listen to 
the sequel, they all came back to supper ! And now 
at nine they have just left, and as it is not quite bed- 
time, and yet I am not in the mood for reading, I 
thought I would tell you all about it. 

VOL. 1-12 [ ^^7 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Wednesday evening, October 27th 1880 
Dear M., — My object in writing, is to send 
you a nice letter, which I received from Walker this 
afternoon. His first letter was written in such a 
homesick mood, I could not bear to read it, and just 
as I was making up my mind to write him, coun- 
selling him not to stay in St. Paul unless he had his 
own entire consent to it for a residence, he tells me 
he is glad to be there, but I found Emmons has 
carried off the letter to Gardiner, whither he and 
Philip have gone on one of their frequent visits, 
carrying my Chinese lanterns, my tin holders, and 
reHcs of my candles, to contribute to Mrs. Richards' ^ 
illumination. The day after our illumination, Mr 
Piper came to me to see if I would let him have some 
of my lanterns to send to Burnham. He had received 
an order and had not enough in his store to fill it, 
wanting two dozen. So I sent that number to Burn- 
ham with my compliments, supposing of course that 
they were to light up a Republican celebration, but 
they contributed to a Fusion illumination, as the 
Argus informs me, and the Burnham managers have 
also sent acknowledgments to me. Isn't it funny? 

* Mrs. Henry Richards of Gardiner, daughter of Julia Ward Howe, 
the "Laura E. Richards" who has dehghted the hearts of so many 
children. 

[ 1'8] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I have had a bad headache all day, but am now almost 
free from it. And strange to say, the library is un- 
visited. Your Father is walking up and down the 
parlor, while H. is picking out on the piano some 
of her old Zeverley pieces, for the benefit of both the 
Jamies. Capt. Boutelle spent last night with us, 
leaving this afternoon ; is en route from New York, 
where he has been speaking. We are quite hopeful 
over the prospect next Tuesday, and I will try to 
send you the result. 

H S B. 



Dear M., — I am putting up your box, so you 
must be content with a line, as of course you will, 
now that Garfield and Arthur are elected. 

Can you believe that the long vigil, not tonguelcss, 
is over, and that we are all saved for four years, and 
I hope forty times four? For now there is no danger 
that any of the tomfoolery of the Hayes policy will 
be tried, and I hope there are no sunken rocks to 
make shipwreck of the new administration. Your 
Father and I have picked out Garfield's Cabinet for 
him, and have devoted to him for two mornings our 
waking, but not risen, hours. Do you take In 
that the House is Repubhcan, and the Senate a 
tie, which gives the casting vote to the Republican 
[ 179] 



LETTERS OF 

V.P? Oh, how good it is to win and to be on the 
strong side ! Your Father leaves to-morrow for New 
York, then goes Emmons next, and AHce to Boston 
and then to Washington. I am glad we are going 
early. 

H S B. 

Thursday afternoon. 



Augusta, November llth, 1880 
Thursday evening 

Dear M., — When this you see, think of me, 
all alone with Jamie and H. and six servants to 
wait on us. Emmons and Alice are to leave to-night 
on the Pullman, and it adds inconceivably to the 
dreariness of the situation, that it is raining in tor- 
rents, and Emmons, bluer than ever, has just gone 
down in the rain and his rubber overcoat, to bid good- 
bye to the Aunts, who are already perfectly discon- 
solate. There is a gleam of comfort in that, for being 
perfectly disconsolate, nothing can add to their 
weight of woe. And Alice, having put off her farewell 
calls and her blanket for the Bradbury baby till the 
last moment, is trying with impatient fingers to 
stitch pink satin ribbon to the ends of one and her 
rubbers to her own extremities. Excuse this hor- 
[180] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

rible sentence. It is not in the least what I meant 
to say. 

I have had a day, and my poor httle namesake, too 
sleepy to sit up, is afraid to go to bed lest no one will 
wake her, so I can hear her discoursing to the kitchen 
crowd, with whom she is always in high favor. Your 
Father is still away, though certain to return Satur- 
day, and with him, I expect Mr. and Mrs. Chandler, 
and the Hales are to come Saturday morning, so I 
shall certainly have numbers on Sunday. But I am 
heart-broken at losing Emmons. He ought to go, but 
the iron enters my soul. 

Walker writes that he is just entering on his law 
career, has his office and a partner. I do not know 
that I am glad that he has the latter, though he him- 
self seems much pleased, but I cannot allow myself to 
be anxious, lest I break down under my varied anx- 
ieties. I wish somebody would order tomorrow's 
dinner for me! Such a dreadful time as we had 
illuminating. The cannon knocked down all the 
candles, and there were my pretty carpets and floors 
all splashed with wax. Such a scene of devastation 
as the next morning showed ! Smoke and cracked 
glass, candle grease over everything, nails and slats 
everywhere, children with colds and cross servants, 
and a billiard room full of unreturnable lanterns, 
and Garfield and his wife off buying tables and chairs ! 
[ 181] 



LETTERS OF 

Your Father has heard Bernhardt and pronounces 
her splendid. I am dehghted that you enjoyed your 
Hartford trip and that your dresses suited. Your 
watch is safe in my bureau drawer. I did not send 
your hat because your goodies did not leave room in 
the trunk. With love, 

HSB 

Augusta November 16th 1880 
Tuesday afternoon 

Deae M., — Or Emmons, or Walker, or Alice 
— say, which shall it be, for all are dear, and all are 
away. When did I write any of you? The day that 
Emmons left, last Thursday, wasn't it.'' Well, he 
left on that most melancholy evening, and most mel- 
ancholy train, the evening Pullman at eleven o'clock, 
and at that positive and still not culminating hour 
of the night, I found myself alone with my mem- 
ories and anticipations, and Jamie, H. and the 
servants. 

I stayed up until one o'clock, unable to resolve to 
seek a sleepless pillow. Emmons had never been more 
tender and ajffectionate, and I had a wellspring of 
grief. 

Later: I shall not resume the thread of my above 

discourse, but I shall try another. Mr. and Mrs. 

Hale and Mr. and Mrs. Chandler have been here 

spending Sunday. The Hales left yesterday after- 

[ 182 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

noon, the Chandlers still here. Have not had a wholly 
satisfactory visit. The Chicago convention talked 
over, with not sufficient frankness to heal the hurt. 
Sunday night all the Richards came up to tea, bring- 
ing with them Mr. P , a cousin. Emmons stayed 

in Boston a day or so, both INIr Chandler ^ and your 
Father seeing him there. Sunday night he went to 
New York, but before he left Boston he sent me a 
telegram, asking for his lavender trousers, which 
nearly drove me wild, as I could find nothing of the 
description among his leavings. Imagine his feelings 
when he opened the box containing three pairs of un- 
mentionables, varying in color from gray to claret 
brown ! I suppose he is in Harrisburg to-night. 
H.'s arithmetic is on the tapis, so I must say 
good-bye. 

H S B. 

. Augusta November 28th 1880 
Sunday afternoon 

My dear M., — When I tell you that I am alone 
in the house, with the servants, Jamie having gone 

out and H over the river, to pass the night 

with Tuly, you will not expect much variety to this 
letter. 

Indeed, this large house, with its few tenants, is 
absolutely oppressive, more especially on Sunday, 

* William E. Chandler, later U. S. Senator from New Hampshire. 
[ 183] 



LETTERS OF 

when I am driven to books uninterruptedly. I can- 
not remember when I wrote you — I know that I 
have written since Thanksgiving to Walker, Alice 
and Emmons, and to your Father twice a day. He 
left for Washington Wednesday, stayed that night 
at Hamilton, coming up to Boston Thanksgiving 
morning, went on to New York and dined with Mr 
Elkins,^ then to Wasliington by night train, Lewis 
letting him into the house a Httle before seven. 
Found everything there all right, and after a break- 
fast from Wormley's, was to go to see Garfield. I 
spent my Thanksgiving very quietly. 

Emmons is, I judge, quite pleased with his advent 
into business. He writes me nice long letters, giving 
me details which I dearly love — which letters I 
should herewith transmit, but they have gone to your 
Father. Jack too tells me, that he feels within him 
latent ambition, and means to fan it into a flame, so 
that men shall take notice of him as a not degenerate 
son of a noble father. Your Father, going away, left 
me as his parting legacy an injunction to entertain 
at tea Mrs. B. and her daughter. So to-morrow I 
have them and the neighbors. How are you getting 
along.? Write often to your affectionate. 

Mother. 

* Stephen B. Elkins, delcf^ate in Congress from New Mexico, and 
later U. S. Senator from West Virginia. 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
To jNIiss Dodge 

Augusta, December 3rd, 1880. 
I am left absolutely alone with my servants, every 
want anticipated, not a room in the house not at 
summer heat, sunshine and open fires vieing with 
each other, four horses and pony in the stable, 
sleighs and robes in abundance and the beautiful 
snow ; every longing satisfied, with full salvation 
blessed — what can I need.'' My sins — that is, my 
sinners. First of all, I miss Mr Blaine. I cannot 
bear the orderly array of my life. I miss the en- 
velopes in the gravy, the bespattered table linen, the 
uncertainty of the meals, for you know he always 
starts out on his constitutional when he hears them 
taking in dinner. I miss liis unvarying attention, 
and as constant neglect. When alone with him I am 
not my own — when others are in, go as you please 
is the rule, and the alternation suits me exactly. 
Then the boys — oh, how I miss them. They know 
all I ever knew — and I have forgotten much — they 
are fresh and untiring as the sun which never sets — 
they are loving and want sympathy — old enough 
to be companions, too young to assert their rights, 
taking everything as of grace, and of their fulness 
I am a partaker. Blessed relationship — the man 
child to his mother. 

[ 185] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
To M., AT Farmixgton 

Augusta December 5th 1880 
Sunday evening 

Deae M., — I am getting off a huge mail to- 
night, to your Father, to Ahce, to Jacky, to Briggs 
of Boston and to Clarke of Boston, bookseller. The 
purport of the last two you can imagine, each envel- 
ope containing a violet colored check. Then my 
spirits are not good, and it is snowing and raining 
and I like decision in the elements and in the councils, 
and we are lonely, the two H's, who sit here by the 
sitting room fire, both writing, one a story, the other 
a love-letter. But loneliness is nothing, provided 
you are right minded. Possession of yourself — to 
say to yourself, do this and she doeth it, and go away 
from that, and she goeth, — is to have your hfe ad- 
justed to the will of God and moving to the eternal 
harmonies. 

H S B 



[ 18G ] 



1881 



To Walker, in St. Paul 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, Jany 16th 1881 
My dear Walker, — I am so anxious to put my- 
self once more into communication with my family 
that I have braced myself up with a half bottle of 
champagne so as to get off that miserable sofa, and 
write at least a short letter. There I have been lying 
since Tuesday, when I went to a delightful little 
party at Mrs. Bancroft's,^ but during the night I 
was attacked with illness, and since then when not 
actually suffering, I have been so dyspeptic and rest- 
less, that hfe has been a burden to me. I am getting 
better all the time, but the wrestle with returning 
health is almost worse than losing it. 

Meanwhile, M. has gone, leaving as she alwaj's 
does, a great void, though her and your little sister 
has kept me company all the morning, a truly sweet 
restorative, reading to me selections of her o^^ti from 
Tennyson, Shelley, Swinburne and Emerson, with 
comments and criticisms truly suggestive, and hav- 
ing at last read Godiva, I have looked up for her 
Esau's (pronounced by her " Essau's ") rough hands, 
an allusion she had no conception of the meaning of, 
which veracious history she is now mastering, with 

* Wife of Grcorge Bancroft, the historian. 
[ 189] 



LETTERS OF 

the single comment that if a person could believe it, 
he must certainly become religious. 

It is a very interesting time to be sick. Last night 
we had a grand dinner party. The Chief Justice/ 
the General,^ the Secretaries of State and Interior,^ 
the German,^ French ° and English Ministers,^ Mr. 
Dougherty,' and Mr. Schlesinger,^ Mr. Bancroft and 
Mr. Morton,^ and Mrs. Robeson and Mrs. Lawrence.^*^ 
An elegant dinner, beautiful table, and distinguished 
and brilliant company, all of which of course I lost. 
Ahce and Jamie went to the theatre, G. H. to the 
table, and the two Harriets to bed. And to-night we 
have another smaller dinner, which I must also lose. 

Do you remember how much you seemed to have 
to give up when your shoulder was dislocated.'' Now 
that I am absolutely mending, your Father is in gay 
spirits. My attack completely broke him up. Had 
it not been so pathetic, it would have been amusing. 
He would not go to the Senate, thought himself sick, 

' Morrison R. Waite of Ohio, Chief Justice, 1874-88. 

=» Gen. William T. Sherman. 

" William M. Evarts of New York and Carl Schurz of INIissouri. 

* Karl von Schlozer, German Minister. 

* Maxime Outrey, French INIinister from 1877-82. 
' Sir Edward Thornton. 

' Daniel Dougherty, the well-known lawj'er and orator of Phila- 
delphia, called the "Silver tongued." 

* Sebastian Schlesinger, a foreign banker. 

« Levi P. Morton, then Member of Congress from New York. 
" Mrs. Bigelow Lawrence of Washington. 
[ 190] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

broke all his engagements, and excused himself to 
everybody on the ground that he could not leave me. 
In my room he sat on my bed or creaked across the 
floor from corner to corner by the hour, making me 
feel a guilty wretch to cause him so much misery. 
He is a dear, dear old fellow. 

I think he will go to Mentor very soon. Garfield 
has written for him, and though he does not want to 
go, he will not refuse. All the world is paying court 
to the coming or expected Secretary of State. So- 
cially you know it is about the best position. John 
Hay ^ will, I think, stay in a little while. 

We have not taken any further steps about the 
new house, but are fully determined upon it. This 
will go into the market at once unless a private sale 
can be effected. We intend to put up a very nice and 
expensive house. I can write no more. Excuse the 
writing, which the champagne makes worse than 
usual. With love, 

H. S. B. 

» John Hay of Ohio, President Lincoln's private serretaiy; 
Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt ; at that 
time (1879-81) P'irst Assistant Secretarj- of State. 



[ 191 ] 



LETTERS OF 
To M., AT Faemixgton 

Washington, January 17th, 1881, 
My dear M., — Here I still am, in the same 
old room, on the same old sofa, under the same old 
afghan, hardly knowing whether I am better or worse, 
and dreadfully bored with the trouble of getting well. 
I was at breakfast and lunch, but the sight of so 
much food making me loathe the little I had hoped 
to eat, I concluded to dine in my own room, and here 
I am still, delightfully quiet and rested, and not in 
the least lonesome, though alone. 

I must get well however in good earnest now, as 
people are beginning to send me in goodies, and this 
you know, I cannot bear. To be petted is not my 
forte. The Saturday and Sunday dinners passed off 
beautifully, flowers, table, dinner and guests unex- 
ceptionable. Your Father was highly gratified at 
everything, and so with the second dinner, which 
much smaller, passed off equally well. I have ac- 
cepted three dinners for this week, so you see I am 
expecting to be well. 

H. S. B. 



[ 192 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

821 Fifteenth Street, 
Washtngton, January 23rd, 1881. 

Deae M., — I suppose you will like a letter, even 
from a headachy mother, who has nothing in her 
head but the ache, is not conscious of an idea, and 
worst of all, is innocent of gossip. 

Nevertheless, that mail to-morrow afternoon must 
keep faith to the letter, however it fails to the spirit. 
I am down stairs alone, where I have just been writ- 
ing a note to Senator Pendleton,^ accepting an invita- 
tion to your Father to dine with him on Saturday, 
and finding the pen run smoothly over the paper, I 
am determined here to scrawl my scrawl to you rather 
than upstairs, where Alice, C A and H are in full 
possession of my room, with its triple blessing of 
windows. 

Did you know that I have staying with me Mr. 
Cowles, the brother of your Miss Cowles, and his 
sister Susie? Well I have, and am enjoying the visit 
very much, as they are bright, sympathetic and lov- 
ing and lovable. Your Father got away to New York 
on the Limited of yesterday — will return on Wednes- 
day. Every day after I was able, till he went away, 
we drove out to look at the lot. You know I was 
not carried away with it, which proved almost too 
much for your dearest dad. However, after a dozen 

' George F. Pendleton of Ohio. 
VOL. I - 13 [ 193 ] 



LETTERS OF 

voyages by land and water, to that snow covered 
eminence, I am ready to avouch that the sun will visit 
the dining room every morning at breakfast, that 
though the house will stand east and west, yet that 
can make no difference to the center of the circum- 
ference, that the drainage is good, that it is a com- 
manding site, and with Don Cameron's ^ assistance, 
can combine all the advantages of space, air and light 
and greensward. To-night, Stanley Pullen, Mr. and 
Mrs. Putnam of Portland, Lizzie and Virginia Cam- 
eron are coming to tea. I have cucumbers, lettuce 
and tomatoes from Harrisburg. Last night I dined 
at the English Legation. The table was perfectly 
imposing, with its candles, its silver, glass and flowers, 
and the dinner was admirable, — but oh, how stupid 

it was! Even Mr. A 's, where I was the night 

before, was brighter. 

WAsmNGTON, March 14th, 1881. 
Monday afternoon 

Dear M., — What are you doing in peaceful 

Farmington, while Czars are dying and Czarowitches 

mounting the throne.-^ Imagine what a family matter 

that assassination ^ must have seemed, when Alice 

* James Donald Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War 
under President Grant, and later U. S. Senator. 

^ Emperor Alexander II of Russia, assassinated ISfarch 13, 1881. 
M. Bartoiomei was then the Russian iMinister to the United States. 

[ 194 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

came running to the door yesterday as I came from 
church to tell me of it, and when I saw Bartolomei 
himself, sitting in my own parlor, and crossing and 
recrossing himself, while he prayed devoutly before 
reading the despatches, for all the news there was for 
hours, was contained in the telegrams to the Secre- 
tary of State. Poor Emperor, dogged to his death 
at last! I think he must be enrolled among the 
martyrs. 

To come to the augustae res domi, Saturday after- 
noon I stood up with Mrs. Garfield, while all the 
American people, who wanted to, came to pay their 
respects to her and the President. It is not any of 
it so bad as I expected, and much of it is really 
amusing. 

Friday evening March 18th 1881 
Dear M., — I have spent the entire day in my 
room, where your Father, I am sorry to say, is in 
bed, having taken last night a frightful cold at the 
White House, where the President and Mrs. Gar- 
field received the Senate and their friends. Your 
parents and the private secretary, with Alice and 
Mr. Mahone,^ who had dined with us, and C. A. 
made our party. Then Walker and Philip went 
to the British Legation to Lady Thornton's last 

' William Mahone, U. S. Senator from Virginia. 
[ 195] 



LETTERS OF 

Thursday. The Secretaryship grows more and more 
agreeable. Tuesday your father and I assisted at 
the Requiem Mass for the Czar. I had never antici- 
pated going into black for any of the European sov- 
ereigns, but with Mrs. Hale's assistance, I did. She 
■was here when I was dressing, and pinned my old 
black lace cape on to my old black chip, so that I 
went en regie. Wednesday, I dined at the Enghsh 
Legation, and sat between the host and Lord George 
Campbell, who is a brother of the Marquis of Lome. 
Jacky gets along beautifully. Letters are already 
coming addressed to the Honorable Walker Blaine, 
and at the Elliott Shepherd ^ dinner the other night, 
he made a speech. The house is filled with flowers 
all the time, an immense horse shoe, surmounted by 
a ship of state, fills our parlor table. Dinner is just 
over, and I am writing in your old room, not liking 
to turn up the light in the other, where your Father 
is asleep. Goodnight, with love, 

H. S. B. 

Washington, March 24th, 1881 
Thursday morning 

Dear M., — To insure the successful completion 

of my proposed task now, I must begin it early 

in the morning. So having guided your Father 

' Col. Elliott F. Shepherd of New York at that time owner of the 
Mail and Express. 

[ 1J^^> ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

through the intricacies of his toilet and presided 
over his eggs and tea, during which I have also 
worked off a towel initial, I commence the duties and 
pleasures of the day by writing this to-be letter, first 
apologizing for its brothers and sisters which never 
reached Farmington. Truth to tell, the new position 
gives me a mighty wrench. I thought my hands full 
before — I find they were empty. Your Father has 
just gone to the Department. Did you notice the 
nominations sent in yesterday .'' ^ They mean business 
and strength. 

To-night we. Miss Dodge, your Father and I, dine 
at the Outreys, and Alice and Walker tea at Mrs. 
Berry's. All the afternoon I shall be paying visits, 
and the letters, notes, accounts I have to notice be- 
fore then, make my heart sink into my shoes. Mr. 
Hitt " is to be tlie Assistant Secretary, Jacky re- 
maining as he is. We have the plans for the house, 
and they are so huge and so expensive that we are 
now engaged in striking out every pretty thing to 

* Referring, among others, to the nomination of Wm. H. Robert- 
son as Collector of the Fort of New York iu place of Edwin Atkins 
Merritt. 

^ Robert Roberts Hitt of Ilhnois, Secretary of Legation in Paris; 
Assistant Secretary of State; a most distinguished member of Con- 
gress and chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs for many 
years. In early Ufe Mr. Hitt became an accomplished stenographer 
and was the means of preserving to history the Lincoln-Douglas de- 
bates of 18.38. It is said that Lincoln woukl never speak during 
those momentous years without assuring himself that I\Ir. Hitt was 
at his post. ^^^^^ 



LETTERS OF 

reduce the expenditure to the Hmits of your Father's 
purse. Yesterday, I had my second reception, a great 
crowd. Am now about to issue cards for Saturdays 
in April. Jamie's Montana trip has come to noth- 
ing. Mrs. Pike and her niece were over from Balti- 
more Tuesday for lunch, and of course I took them 
to the White House, where we saw the Garfields, and 
the Hayes' china. Since writing this letter I have 
written to Aunt Caddy, in answer to a cheerful letter 
from herself, but I never dragged more over a letter. 

H S B 



March 28th. 
I am writing in my room ; present, your Father, 
Alice, Walker, Tom Sherman and a messenger from 
the State Department; subject. Shall we send mes- 
sage, recognizing Charles as King of Roumania ? ^ 
There are lots of things which hitch in our new 
position, which make the new situation interesting. 
Flowers have just come from Mrs. Garfield, and yes- 
terday she and the President were both here. They 

* The kingdom of Roumania, as at present constituted, dates only 
from 1881, having been formed by union of the principaUties of 
Moldavia and Wallachia in southeastern Euroi^e. In 1881 Roumania 
declared itself a Kingdom, and was in turn recognized by the powers, 
its first minister from the United States being Eugene Schuyler of 
New York. 

[ 198 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

hate tlie situation, but this is not to be spoken of, 
and I nevei' want to be nearer the White House than 
I now am. 

Tuesday evening. May 17th, 1881. 
Dear M., — Your Father has lost one pair of 
glasses and I have stepped on his spectacles. I need 
not say who enjoys those still extant, so I write 
blindly, unable to discern one letter. Tom got back 
this morning, and the day was also marked by the 
arrival of your letter, announcing the safe completion 
of your journey. I enclose Mrs Manley's letter re- 
ceived during the forenoon, to show that I am free 
from anxiety concerning the departing ones. Noth- 
ing of private interest has transpired since you left, 
but we had yesterday, with the rest of the world, 
the sensational resignations of Conkling and Platt.^ 
They produce no excitement here, and I have yet to 
hear one criticism complimentary of Conkling, though 
I have seen all sorts of people and of every shade of 
cowardice. I called at the White House yesterday to 
see Mrs. Sheldon, but had only the privilege of sit- 

' "When in 1881 President Garfield failed to consult the New York 
senators in appointing a Collector for the Port of New York, and when 
the Senate confirmed the acts of the President, Senator Conkling 
resigned his seat, together with his colleague, Thomas C. Piatt, and 
they appealed to the New York Legislature for vindication by a re- 
election, which the Legislature failed to carrj' out." 

Lamb's Bioyraphical Dictionary. 

[ 199 ] 



LETTERS OF 

ting in the antechamber, wliile a semi-military servant 
ran up and down the house to find that Mrs. Sheldon 
had gone out driving. Mrs. Garfield is better, and if 
the doctors are not too much for her, she will get well. 
Just before dinner, I walked out with your Father 
to the " lot." They commenced grading yesterday, 
and Mr. Frazier now has the contract. We are to 

have it in December. B got away to-day. 

His ticket was purchased yesterday, when the coup 
d'etat of Conkling threw him out so, he stayed on for 
further developments. Excuse this miserable scrawl, 
and let the love atone for the irregularities of style. 
As you know, I have a weakness for elegant chirog- 
raphy. Always your 

MOTHEE. 

To Emmons, in Chicago 

Washington, May 17th, 1881 
Your Father eating his breakfast this moment, and 
Walker talking to him on the new, original and strik- 
ing topic of procuring places for female applicants. 
" Miss C," Walker says, " is as nice a little girl as I 
ever saw, and writes a beautiful hand, we must pro- 
vide for her ; " and your Father answers, " But I 
must first look out for Mrs B, get her a place, then 
the decks will be clear for Miss C," and to this enters 
[ 200 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

a card from Mrs Chandler, with of course a woman 
attached whom I am to see and help. I have had 
this morning a long and delightful letter from Mr. 
Phelps, sent from Queonstown, with an agreeable men- 
tion of you, and we are this moment anxiously awaiting 
a cablegram from him, on the subject of house lots, for 
do you know your Father, with that independence of 
criticism which makes him so interesting and delight- 
ful a comrade, has conceived a sort of disgust with 
the 16th street place, on account of the vicinage of 
stables, and although he has had that immense tract 
graded, is not going to build on it, and fastening his 
affections on a lot on Massachusetts Avenue, P and 
20th Streets, he comes upon the surprising fact that 
Mr Phelps is the owner thereof, hence a cablegram 
and the waited-for reply. In my letter Mr Phelps 
says, " wliile I was struggling with the hasp of my 
trunk I told Hopkins, who was in the room, to buy 
that other piece of land for me." Your Father said 
to me only yesterday, " I am just like Jamie, when 
I want a thing, I want it dreadfully." They are a 
pair of Jamies — after which Augusta and summer 
and freedom and out of doors. 



[ 201 ] 



LETTERS OF 



To M., AT Faemington 

Washington, May 22nd, 1881. 

My dear M., — We are all well and flourishing, 
your Father gone to the country since ten o'clock, 
with Gen. Shennan, Walker at the B.'s to breakfast, 
Ahce, Jamie and I at Dr Paxton's church, and 
H. with her hymnal and prayer book to St John's. 
Your Kttle sister grows more and more devout, and 
when at breakfast Jamie spoke of deviled crabs, she 
came around to his seat and begged him so earnestly 
not to use that word before ladies and little girls, 
that he actually promised not to. I think the com- 
pliment implied by H that it would not hurt boys and 
men, might have influenced him. 

After church, I walked around to the White House, 
where I had the pri-vdlege of seeing the President, and 
later the Mac Veaghs, who also came to inquire for 
Mrs. Garfield. I am sorry to say that I have grave 
fears about Mrs. Garfield. She is very sick, and after 
hearing exactly how she is, I confess I am verj'^ un- 
easy. Still the doctors say she will get well, and if 
she does, I shall not be surprised if she comes to 
Maine and stays awhile with me. She has to go where 
she can be perfectly quiet. Your Father received a 
letter from Mr. Morton this morning, asking if he 
[ 202 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

should engage passage for you witli them on the 

Amerique. You ought to have heard H 's howl. 

" It lias just spoiled my Sunday, and I have been 
looking forward to it all the week." This brought 
your Father to terms, and he was very soon able to 
remember that Gen. Hurlbut ^ was going over later 
and could take charge of your inconvenient self. 

The political horizon looms up, if horizons ever 
loom, in its old fashion. Everybody, as you will 
suppose, is leaving Washington, and daily I inter- 
view possible cooks, waitresses and laundresses. When 
this role is filled, we shall be able to leave, though I 
have many misgivings as to the boy I leave behind me, 
or as Garfield would say, the dear one. I do not 
mean Walker, but your Father, though he anticipates 
real pleasure in visiting Deer Park and the Elkinses. 

You cannot think how much praise has been 
showered on Walker for his urbanity and efficiency 
these last days.- Mr. Lamar ^ says no such young 
man has been in Washington. 

H SB 

» Gen. Stephen A. Hurlburt, U. S. Minister to Peru. 

^ Walker Blaine's appointment, on July 1st following, as third 
Assistant Secretary' of State, was the last appointment signed by 
President Garfield l^efore his assassination. 

^ Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Lamar, U. S. Senator from 
Mississippi. 

[ 203 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Washington May 31st 1881, Tuesday a. m. 

Your Father has not been up since Saturday. He 
came home from a drive that afternoon, had a chill, 
was in a raging fever all that night, but thanks to 
Dr Lincoln's heroic remedies, he has had no recur- 
rence of chills and is intending to be present at the 
Cabinet meeting to-day. The day is of the hottest, 
and I have to go down toAVTi with H and shoe and 
hat her, both ends need my attention. 

Sitting here with me, while I write, are a variety 
of people — Dr. Lincoln, waiting to make his pro- 
fessional call, Mr. Frazier the architect ; and thereby 
hangs this tale. We are not to build on 16th Street. 
Mr. Pendleton takes our rejected lot, which has just 
been graded, and he and Mr. Robeson divide the 
residuum. Now we go to Massachusetts Avenue and 
20th and P Streets, beyond the Stewart House.^ That 
dear Mr. Phelps had bought this land, though he 
did n't know it, and he has cablegraphed us that we 
may have as much of the land as we want, if we will 
make the dining room larger. Is n't that just like 
him ? 

Joseph Manley also sits here, and the faithful Bart- 
lett, while in the dim distance in the dining room, 

» The mansion built by Senator W. M. Stewart of Nevada, later 
occupied for some years by the Chinese JNIinister. 
[ 204 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Thomas and a State Department messenger may be 
descried. 

This new locale gives us a frontage to the east on 
20th Street, drawing rooms and dining on P Street, 
and library and hall and reception room on Massa- 
chusetts Avenue. A wonderful situation. With love, 

H S B 

WAsmNGTON, Monday evening. June 7th 1881 
Dear M., — Your Father is down stairs and has 
been out driving — need I say, in the direction of 
the lots old and new? First we go to 16th street, to 
look it over and say how httle we like it, then to 20th 
Street, to admire. On the latter site, they are grad- 
ing to-day, and on the former, hollowing out the 
Pendleton cellar. 

The family is so small, I have little to tell. IMany 
meals Ahce and I have taken together of late, your 
Father being confined to his room, and Walker having 
engagements. With your Father, he is now discuss- 
ing the Fortune Bay ^ award, which he has watched 
very carefully and been much interested in. I judge 
that he makes a great impression and your Father is 
exceedingly pleased with him. 

1 Damages of $73,000 were paid by Great Britain for injuries done 
by Canadians to Gloucester fishermen taking fish in Fortune Bay, 
Newfoundland, by right of the Treaty of Washington, ratified in 1871. 
[ 205 ] 



LETTERS OF 

You cannot imagine how uncomfortable I am with 
the close rooms. Your Father has a fire, all the 
windows closed, and of course I nearly suffocate. Mrs 
Garfield is getting well. This is all, as I am dull. 
Good-night, with love, 

H S B 

Washington, June 10th 1881 
Wednesdaj' morning 

My dear M., — As I write the familiar date of 

this letter, I am reminded that it is the day and 

hour when I expected to be in Boston, at this precise 

moment buying a Chuddah shawl, and here I am 

notifying my various children that my address, for 

the present, bids fair to be Washington. For your 

Father has taken it into his head to be well, and when 

an idea gets lodgment in that capacious brain, you 

know it becomes a power, and drives the weak body. 

So now, we are on the high road to health, and all 

clumsy vehicles of notions, like going home to get 

rest, malaria in Washington, Bright's Disease, etc., 

etc., must clear the tracks or be ridden down. If it 

were not for H and Jamie, I should be content to 

stay on and on, but I deeply sympathize with those 

waifs, to whom I am separately writing, to be of good 

cheer and to be good children. Walker says, " Poor 

little children. I would give twenty dollars to console 

H. this minute." Mr. Sherman leaves with his family 

[ 206 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

to-morrow morning, and I cannot but envy him, he 
looks so happy. He is tearing around now with a 
roll of bills, greenbacks I mean, saying he has not 
time for anything. I have collected and had colored 
black, all the stray feathers in the house; and you 

ought to see my hat which they adorn. Mrs B 's 

was meek looking compared to it. It is as big as the 
moon after the eclipse had passed off the other night, 
and all around the edge of this great orb, these 
plumes arise, solemnly rustling in the west wind which 
has now been blowing for lo, these many days. True, 
this mournful circumference is lighted, or lit up as 
much as may be, by two red flowers. Nothing could 
be prettier than it looks on Alice — of it on myself, 
modesty forbids me to speak. And Alice has your 
white failure all made over. Forrest did very well with 
it. Also, she has a black hat with feathers, and your 
chip is all beautifully ready for you. So much for 
millinery. Our house is started, but your Father is 
again tinkering with the plans. With love, 

H. S. B. 

WAsmNGTON, June 22nd, 1881, Wednesday 
Dear M., — I am almost sorry to be again writ- 
ing from Washington, to which we seem tied for 
an indefinite time. Your Father is perfectly well, 
but is unwilling to have us leave him or to leave 
[ 207 ] 



LETTERS OF 

with us. The President is away, and the new house 
is starting. He likes to watch every spadeful of 
earth which he can snatch time to see thrown out. 
Meanwhile Emmons, who is with us, makes the delay 
bearable. Poor fellow! He came Saturday evening, 
expecting to transact business for his R.R. and get 
away Monday, and have the next day for Cambridge 
with its Class Day and its graduations, and he finds 
himself on Wednesday, held back at arms' length by 
the red tape of the circumlocution office, with no im- 
mediate prospect of any capitulation. He has a great 
deal of pride, I think, in carrying to a successful 
conclusion, this first business entrusted to him, and 
there is every prospect of his failing, so of course he 
feels a little blue. 

Our day for starting is now fixed for Tuesday, 
but as the weather is perfectly comfortable and de- 
cidedly charming, I have my doubts. Jacky and 
others gave a farewell dinner to Sir Edward last 
night, and I think he goes to Harrisburg to spend 
Sunday, your Father going to Deer Park. I have 
been out this morning inspecting houses, have looked 
at the Windom, the Ashton and the Noble houses. 

Home, June 28th, 1881, Tuesday morning 
Dear M., — I have just had the pleasure of 
reading your last brief note, and while I wait for 
[ 208 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

your Father to finish his mail and begin his toilette, 
if that word is thus spelled, I seize State paper, a 
poor pen and thick ink, to tell you that your family 
is still in Washington, though positively expecting 
to leave this week. And Emmons is with us still, his 
R.R. business unaccomplished, though he has hopes 
of a decision to-day. He is quite heartened up about 
it, almost hoping for what he confidently expected 
when he came on, so soon do we in the school of ex- 
perience learn to regard that as a favor, which earlier 
we looked upon as ours by inheritance. I think that 
Walker, Emmons, and your Father will leave with 
the caravan on Thursday. 

Concerning Washington, I have nothing to write. 
The house is still in the damps, the cellar damps 
I mean, and Tom is staying with us, occupying 
Jamie's bed, and Mr. Hale is in to^\Ti, having arrived 
Saturday, and the Thorntons leave this morning, 
and a dinner or breakfast or lunch is a thing of the 
past. And Alice and I have about completed our 
summer preparations, and after this letter and break- 
fast, I shall pack. H. S. B. 

Washington, July 3rd, 1881 » 

Dear M., — Your Father got up quite early 
yesterday morning, in order to drive the President 

' President Garfield was shot in the waitinp-room of the old 
Pennsylvania Station in Washington while on bis way to a reunion of 
his class at Williams College. 

VOL. 1—14 [ 209 ] 



LETTERS OF 

to the Station, and at 9 :30 Tom, the boys, AHce and 
I had breakfast. In the midst of it, the doorbell 
rang, and Tom was called out. Then he called 
Walker; but as the house is besieged all the time, 
we, who were so fortunate as to remain unsent for, 
paid no attention to the prolonged absence of the 
absentees ; but shall I ever forget the moment when 
Maggie Nurse came running into the room crying, 
" They have telephoned over to you, Mrs. Blaine, 
that the President is assassinated." Emmons flew, 
for we all remembered, with one accord, that his 
Father was with him. By the time I reached the door, 
I saw that it must be true' — everybody on the sti'eet, 
and wild, Mrs. Sherman got a carriage and we drove 
over to the White House. Found the streets in front 
jammed and the doors closed, but they let us through 
and in. The President still at the station, so drove 
thitherward. Met the mounted police clearing the 
avenue, then the ambulance ; turned and followed into 
that very gateway where, on the fourth of ]\Iarch, 
we had watched him enter. I stood with Mrs. Mac- 
Veagh in the hall, when a dozen men bore him above 
their heads, stretched on a mattress, and as he saw 
us and held us with his eye, he kissed his hand to us 
— I thought I should die ; and when they brought 

1 >.Irs. Slierman lived at this time at 817 Fii'tcenth Street, next 
door but one to Mr. 131aiiie. 

[ 210 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

him into his chamber and had hvid him on the bed, 
he turned his eyes to me, beckoned, and when I went 
to him, pulled me down, kissed me again and again, 
and said, " Whatever happens I want you to promise 
to look out for Crete " ^ the name he always gives 
his wife. " Don't leave me until Crete comes." I took 
my old bonnet off and just stayed. I never left him 
a moment. Whatever happened in the room, I never 
blenched, and the day will never pass from my mem- 
ory. At six or thereabouts, Mrs. Garfield came, frail, 
fatigued, desperate, but firm and quiet and full of 
purpose to save, and I think now there is a possibility 
of succeeding. 

Of course I don't know when we shall go home. 
There seems a purpose in our delay. I came from 
the Wliite House at two this morning, and had been 
there all day, but not in the room. Emmons is here. 
I am writing in greatest haste, and may have to sit 
up to-night. With love, 

H. S. B. 



* A contraction of Mrs. Garfield's Christian name Lucretia. 
[211] 



LETTERS OF 

821 15th Street, July 6th 1881 
Deae M., — I must send you a line, if only to 
let you know that in these times which are history, 
you are remembered and sympathized with. It has 
been a quiet but exceedingly hot day with us. After 
breakfast, I went with your Father to the White 
House, and finding that their arrangements for nurs- 
ing were all made for the day, I came immediately 
away and have not been there since. It is not in 
me to sit around in those public rooms unless I can 
be of service. It looks as though Gaffy would live. 
He is now, six o'clock, still comfortable, and has 
asked for beefsteak. They will not, of course, let 
him have it, but if they would, it ought not to come 
from the White House kitchens. Such tough leather 
as they had there for breakfast the other morning, 
is a disgrace to the cattle on a thousand hills. 
All the Cabinet ladies were there, and Mrs. Sher- 
man and Tom,^ who came to let the President and 
Mrs. Garfield know, that yesterday, the young men 
of his Order made their Communion an offering for 
the President's recovery. And Dr. Bliss came in 
to explain to your Father, the changes the}" were 
making in the President's bed, and the instructions 
which he hoped he would give to Private Secretary 

• The Rev. Father Thomas Sherman, General Sherman's son, a 
priest of the Jesuit order. 

[212] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Brown ancnt the admission of visitors. And since 
our return, I have written some letters and sat around 
in a hght and breezy costume, and your Father 
has stayed in and read and signed despatches and 
received callers, and in general taken things easy, and 
now Walker and your Father have gone to the White 
House to make inquiries, and thence to make their 
daily visit to Vice President Arthur, who is on Cap- 
itol Hill. I cannot tell you anything of the White 
House. I am afraid to trust things to pen and ink. 
Character comes out so surprisingly at such times, 
and many of the ladies who are around, manage to 
have such a good time. And I have learned to recog- 
nize the kitchen cabinet. Nothing can exceed the 
satisfaction of the President when I am around, but 
I do not think I shall be able to do much for him, 
but if they will only put the President's room into the 
hands of professionals, I shall live content and have 
greater hope that he will not die. 

I have nothing to tell about our plans, as they all 
hinge on that fateful bedroom. We did not go Fri- 
day, because we could not get a car, Saturday we did 
not wish to go, and Sunday, I would not, so jNIonday 
we had decided upon. I want Alice to take Maggie 
Nurse and another girl and go home and open the 
house, but she is not willing. Of course it will be 
impossible for your Father, save in a fatal event, to 
[ 213 ] 



LETTERS OF 

go for a long time. Emmons Is still here, cannot get 
his business transacted. I had a telegram from Jamie 
yesterday, asking if he could use the buggy. 

When I was with the President yesterday, as I was 
all the forenoon, he looked up at me and said, " When 
I am ready to eat, I am going to break into Mrs. 
Blaine's larder." I will try to write again tomorrow. 

H. S. B. 



Wabhtngton July 8th 1881, 
Friday noon 

Dear M., — Everything seems to be going as 
well with the President as the most loving heart 
can wish. All peoples and tongues vieing with each 
other to do him honor, a purse made up for jNIrs. 
Garfield, no danger now for the President, no anxiety 
about paralysis or bullet in the liver, and every pros- 
pect of a speedy recovery in all his parts. Arthur 
can go back to New York and we soon to Augusta, 
and all the pain and woe and anticipated peril will 
not be lost on the country. I have been to the White 
House this morning, but saw none but officials. Left 
your Father there, in consultation with the doctors 
and drove up to Mrs. MacVeagh's,^ for I am restless 
and broken up as you may suppose. Emmons opened 

" Wayne MacVeagh of Pennsylvania was Attorney-General under 
President Garfield. 

[ 214 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

the door to me when I fiiically came home. He was in 
his shirt sleeves, and looked every inch a gentleman. 
His case is still undecided, and I think his hopes are 
low. Your Father holds up wonderfully, but the 
weather tries us all much. As for me, I am rapidly 
getting unpacked and fast getting all my washable 
dresses ready for the laundry. Jacky ^ keeps on the 
even tenor of his way, all days at the State Depart- 
ment, all evenings at the White House, his only re- 
source an infinite number of cigarettes, the smoke 
of whose consumption ascends from his mouth for- 
ever and ever. Mr. Sherman is with us, and I am, 
among other experiences, putting to the test my 
newly engaged servants. The laundress is condemned 
and I think perhaps the waitress. 

I suppose you have noticed that the President came 
here Friday afternoon. He sat with me an hour, 
waiting for your Father, gave me his Inaugural, 
nicely bound, with his autograph in it, wanted to go 
to Augusta, but hated the long tail to his kite on this 
trip. Finally your Father came and they walked 
away together. Now it seems this Guiteau follovvcd 
him to the house, waited to shoot him on his return, 
but not wanting to hurt Secretary Blaine, had to 
give it up that time. 

* Nickname for Walker. 
[ 215 ] 



LETTERS OF 

I hope I may go home Monday. Good-bye, with 
love. 

H S B 

WAsmNGTON, July 10th, 1881. 

My dear M., — I have been talking and talk- 
ing over the family situation, and strange to say, 
have secured your Father's attention for fifteen min- 
utes. It is difficult for me to satisfy him and myself. 
My own plan is this, to send Maggie Nurse and two 
other girls home on Wednesday with Walker, you to 
join them on Thursday. You can go on with Miss 
Cowles, staying with C. A. that night, if you are 
willing, home on the first train, leaving Boston at 
8 :30 A. M. If that train does not stop at Hamilton, 
you will have to hit it at Salem, Ipswich or wherever 
C. A. advises. This part of the plan you will have 
to perfect yourself. You will reach Augusta at 4 — 
must get Jamie and H. home, do as well as you 
can with the house, and be as happy as possible. 
There are the horses, carriages and Fred, and your 
little sister and brother, and Walker for two days. 

The President is doing ver}'^ nicely. There is no 
need, so far as he is concerned, of my staying here, 
but your Father must, and he cannot be left. Alice 
is going, with Mrs. Sherman and Lizzie, to-night to 
Oaklands in Maryland, and will probably stay till we 
leave. When, oh when, will this be.^ I think of the 
[216] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

cool air and the comforts of home, till my head swims. 
My trunks have been entirely packed for a long 
time, and I sometimes feel as though I should not get 
away this summer. You are to telegraph me if you 
would rather go to New London or home. Emmons 

still here. With love, 

H. S. B. 

To M., AT Augusta 

821 15th Street, July 15th 1881, 
Friday morning 

M DEAR M., — This date reminds me, that I have 
only once before stayed as late as this in Wash- 
ington. In 1870, on this very day, I saw Con- 
gress adjourn in palm leaf fans and linen dusters, 
only your Father, the Speaker, had on an alpaca. 
He sits here this blessed moment in another, and with 
him Emmons, in shirt sleeves, lamenting the Solici- 
tor's decision, which is against him. Tom is at the 
door, warding off one of your Father's country 
women, and down stairs the laundresses are busily 
wrestling with Jacky's and Emmons's linen, leaving 
the chamber work to Charles and me. That excellent 
young man has charge of the third floor, while I man- 
age, or womanage, my own bed. It does not look 
handsome, but it sleeps well. George Stinson break- 
fasted with us, and afbcrwards bade us good-bye for 
[ 217] 



LETTERS OF 

N. C. I only hope you may have had as good a break- 
fast as he had. Just at nine last night, we received 
Walker's telegram from Augusta. " Swing low, 
Sweet Chariot," and take me in next week, for all the 
doctors, male and female, cannot long keep Gaffy on 
his back, and when he is pronounced out of danger, 
we expect to leave. 

I spent yesterday in reading Don John, but think 
the author should have kept the clue for identifica- 
tion, for the satisfaction of the reader. He has no 
right to assume the prerogative of Providence. You 
should hear your Father, to whom I have told the 
story, scold about it. I think Jean Ingelow must 
have got the hint for the story from the Thorntons. 

I have not been at the White House for two days, 
but Emmons and your Father were over last night, 
found everything monotonously comfortable. And 
last evening, your Father, Tom and I slowly creaked 
out in the State coach to the Soldiers' Home. Found 
there fresh air in abundance, but we gave it all up, as 
we came back on to the concrete, and I ate my dinner 
like the fine ladies of Goldsmith. Mr Brown tele- 
phoned over Walker's Ipswich message. Kiss all the 
Blaines for me and make yourself as comfortable as 
possible. 

H. S. B. 

[ 218 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Washington July 19th 1881 
Tuesday afternoon 

Dear M., — Emmons has now gone to the station 
to meet Jacky who has telegraphed that he is on the 
Limited, and Emmons is going to-morrow, so we are 
to have changes but no gain. For two days now, it 
has been really comfortable here, so that I can wear a 
dress and stay before my fellow creatures. Before 
lunch, I drove out to the house with your Father, 
thence to the State Department, getting some books, 
thence home. The house is steadily pushing itself 
above ground now, and is in its kitchen windows and 
pressed brick promising to the eye and suggestive to 
imagination, and my mind often transports me to 
that western porch, where I shall love to steal awhile 
away from every worldly care. To-night, I shall 
probably call at the White House, the least pleasing 
hour of the twenty-four, as I am obliged to content 
myself with a mere formality when I long to be of 
real service. 

Walker has come and has told us all about you. I 
have pumped and pumped, and at last the stream 
refuses to flow. We have had a long drive, Emmons 
acting as Jehu. Have squeaked and groaned over 
about fourteen miles, and are now through with our 
eight o'clock dinner. I think we shall certainly be 
at home by the middle of next week. You cannot 
[ 219 ] 



LETTERS OF 

think how much I want to be there. Love to J., 
H. and 3^ourself. Emmons is very blue. He has 
to go to-morrow morning. 

Ahvajs yours, 

H S B 

Washington 
821 15th Street, July 22nd, 1881 

My dear M., — Do not get discouraged over the 
cook, though I think it much harder for you, than for 
anyone else. Let her wash and iron, and as soon as I 
am there, Tuesday, I will take her in hand. 

We had the agreeable novelty of all eating break- 
fast together, and in consequence I am sustained by 
a passable meal, and your Father and Tom and 
Walker are this moment testing some muscle beaters, 
which have just come — ting, ting, ting is resounding 
through the room. We expect now to leave here 
Monday, though I hold myself ready for disappoint- 
ment. I have been packed so long and have seen that 
journey made so many times, I have little confidence 
left. Your Father saw the President for six minutes 
yesterday morning, the first time since that fateful 
Saturday. They had put him (the Prex) off day 
after day, till he would be denied no longer. He 
looked better than your Father expected to see him, 
though his voice was weak. ]\Irs Garfield told me 
[ 220 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

yesterday, she considered him out of danger. Is n't 
it wonderfully good.? Alice is still at Oaklands, pro- 
posing to return tomorrow. I have had a calm and 
restful two weeks. Every night, we drive out to the 
new house, which interests us immensely, but it 
changes now rather slowly, there being a paucity of 
pressed brick layers. 

Emmons telegraphed yesterday that he was ar- 
rived all right. Since commencing this letter, I have 
been to the station with Tom, to arrange about a car 
for Tuesday. Expect us then Wednesday, but I shall 
telegraph our departure to you. We have tele- 
graphed about the bells. Give my dearest love to 
those dearest children. Did H. get the " Little 
Earl" to read which I sent her? 'T was in one of 
the trunks, Seaside Library. 

Most affectionately, 

H. S. B. 

WAsmNGTON, Sunday, July 24th, 1881. 
Dear M., — I do not know when we can come 
home. Your Father does not feel justified in lea\ang, 
and he is not willing for me to leave him. 

How sorry I am, and what a summer this is ! But 

petty disappointments must not be remembered. I am 

just home from the White House, where I have been 

sitting for two hours. Saw Drs. Agnew and Hamil- 

[ 221 ] 



LETTERS OF 

ton, the Cabinet, Mrs. Garfield and Molly, everyone 
looking very anxious and sober. Mrs. Garfield said 
the President did not mind much who was in the room 
with him to-day, and then he was in a drenching per- 
spiration, which was not good for him, something 
I am afraid like a night sweat. This morning. Dr. 
Agnew made an incision, and opened, as he suspected 
he should, a pus sac. This was drained, to the sen- 
sible relief of the patient. 

I cannot tell you what a state we are in. My head 
aches violently, the day is very sultry, and I am as 
disappointed as though a re-set bone had to be re- 
broken. People act like lost children. If I could go 
into that room, I should have an opinion. 

Alice came home yesterday. It is very dull for her 
here, and I think she ought to go to Augusta. I 
should think you might ask Aunt Susan to advise the 
cook. I will make you a present of the tennis. Love 
to my darlings, 

H. S. B. 

WAsmNGTON July 25th 1881 

Dear M., — We are doing notliing but wait, and 

despair and hope. Five minutes ago, we had talked 

ourselves into an abyss of misery, and three minutes 

since the telephone sounded, and Walker called over 

[ 222 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

the wire that Dr Agnew had put his finger into the 
wound more than an inch further than yesterday, 
that pieces of bone had come away, reheving the stop- 
page of the pus, and that the President's restlessness 
was abating. 

Your Father and I came back a few minutes ago 
from our daily drive to the house, where our eyes were 
delighted by the sight of three workmen nooning 
under a tree, and from the White House, where we 
saw Dr Woodward, who seemed quite hopeful about 
its poor tenant. 

Alice has got in a large supply of books, and is 
reading diligently and making notes. I cannot tell 
you how dull and stupid I am. I loathe the sight of 
the Department carriage. Our table is an offence to 
me. A novel takes on all at once, from the times, 
a sickly association. I almost wish your Father did 
not want me with him so constantly — in short, I am 
idle, yet not rested, of use to no one, yet tied down to 
others. Do make yourself as comfortable as you 
can. Let Aunt Susan advise the cook. I am sure 
she will. My love to the children and yourself. 

H S B 

Washington, July 28th, 1881. 
Dear M., — You can tell Mr. Homan, unless the 
telegraph intervenes before this letter reaches you 
[223 ] 



LETTERS OF 

with bad news, that we are more confident of the 
President's recovery this morning, than we have ever 
been. When we shall get away, I have no chance of 
knowing. Your Father's stay here gives confidence 
to every friend and while he stays, I must. I do not 
feel that this is necessary but he does, and I cannot 
unlearn the old habit of regarding his word as law. 
Walker, as you may suppose, is more than satisfied, 
and Alice will not listen to the proposition of going 
to Augusta. I really think she needs the change, but 
I have no fault to find with her. We are all bright 
again about the President, and I now feel a certain 
assurance as to his being carefully looked after, which 
I have not hitherto had. Doctors Agnew and Hamil- 
ton will keep a closer watch than before this fright. 

If I could feel happy about the Augusta house 
and children, I should know how to cultivate patience, 
that homely but friendly herb, but with a house half 
put to rights, a half-way cook, and half a family, 
how can you be enjoying a perfect whole? No one 
sympathizes with my misgivings. In fact, your 
Father does not hesitate to call it selfishness on my 
part. The weather is deliciously cool this morning. 
Use the carriages all you can, and enjoy yourself in 
every way. Will you get Miss Potter to finish 
H.'s blue linen dress? The sleeves I did not try 
to make without trying. This is all there is to do 
[ 224 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

to it. If the pattern for the yellow gingham is there, 
she can finish that too, and her old last summer's 
ginghams can be given to Fred's children. 
With love to all, 

H. S. B. 



1881. Sunday evening. 

Deae You-uns, — I am ashamed that I, with 
nothing to do for myself, should not have written 
you to-day, but truth to tell, this is one of my, or 
rather our, blue days, and my mind refuses long to 
stray from that sick bed, with its impending issue 
and all that thereon hangs. 

We are greatly disappointed at the gravity of the 
bulletins. Friday I felt an assurance full and free 
that he would recover. Dr. Hamilton so believed, and 
so believed Dr. Bliss. But the gland gives trouble, 
nausea has returned, and plainly I do not see how 
he is to recover. To-day I have seen the Attorney 
General, who is always depressed; Dr. Agnew, who 
spoke with great caution, but hope lies at the bottom 
of all he admits ; Secretary Lincoln, whose darkness 
is unillumined by one ray of courage ; the Hunts, 
who are rosy; Mrs. Garfield, who is, as ever, confi- 
dent ; Rockwell, whose feathers I imagined drooped ; 
VOL. 1—15 [ 225 ] 



LETTERS OF 

and Swayne, who announced the President better 
than ever.^ 

I was at the White House at one o'clock and am 
now going over again. The day has been warm, and 
the night is warmer. The State people have been in, 
and the faithful Bigelow, and Gen. Noyes.^ Your 
Father sits here writing to Arthur. I am nervous 
and can scarcely form a letter. Yesterday morning 
I thought we might leave to-morrow morning. It has 
gone away now into a remote future — my leaving, 
I mean. Mr. Barlow has sent again about the dog. 
Thanks for your and M.'s letters. Do not think 
about us, but get all the enjoyment you can out of 
home. I sent a box yesterday, containing Ahce's 
dress and some soiled linen. She must excuse the 
combination. 

With love, 

H. S. B. 

WAsmNGTON, July 30th, Sunday noon 
Dear M., — I am writing just as lunch is coming 
on to the table, nothing promising in that formal- 

' Robert Todd Lincoln of Illinois, oldest son of Abraham Lincoln, 
was Secretary of War untler Presidents Garfield and Arthur. William 
Henry Hunt of Louisiana, afterward minister to Russia, was Secre- 
tary- of the NaxT. Col. A. F. Rockwell, U. S. A., War Superintendent 
of Public Buildings from 18S1 to ISS".. 

^ Edward F. Noyes of Ohio, Minister to France in the administra- 
tion of President Uayes. 

[ 226 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

ity, nor in the stray callers who are sitting around 
in the room — Mrs. Moore, Col. Forney/ Mr. Tres- 
cott, Dudley, the new Commissioner of Pensions, 
and one, already tete-a-tete with your Father, whom 
I do not know. Walker too is here, reading a letter 
from Mrs Cameron, which I have just answered, 
asking me to visit Harrisburg — and Tom, more 
homesick than myself, if that be possible, is sitting 
irresolutely around, uncertainly looking at news- 
papers. When he told me just now, that a certain 
letter was in a certain drawer, instead of looking for 
it, I knew that it was all up with him. Alice having 
on a morning gown, is obliged to flee this madding 
crowd, and is far in her own room. 

I am not without hope that we shall see Augusta 
this week. I keep myself in marching order all the 
time, instructing the laundresses — I have two — to 
empty the clothes baskets every other morning, and 
as they are on probation, everything to the last hand- 
kerchief comes back to the minute. 

Alice dressed, and with two dimes in her glove 
from Jack, started out for church, but in fifteen min- 
utes disconsolately came back, not having been able 
to find any edifice open. 

The President is doubtless doomed to recovery, not 

' Col. Jolin Wien Forney, journalist, author, and Member of Con- 
gress, at this time Coljector of the Port of Philadelphia. 

[ 227 ] 



LETTERS OF 

the Potomac flats, nor the doctors, falsely so called, 

nor the doctress, nor the fool friends of nurses, nor 

the poor diet, will cut the vital cord, attenuated as 

it is, and because he lives, we shall live also, and at 

the first possible moment you will see your mother, 

who longs to see you and Jamie and H. more than 

you can possibly conceive. I have your letter this 

morninff. 

^ H. S. B. 

To Walker in Augusta 
Col. Rockwell, whom I sat with at the White House 
for half an hour last night, presented his usual fault- 
less appearance, boutonniere, silk-lined lapelled coat, 
cigar in hand, etc., etc. He is exceedingly indignant 
over the stampede, as he calls it. Says the President 
is strong and bright and the pubhc are crazy, that 
the weakness of the patient is greatly exaggerated. 
I asked by whom, and he could give no answer. He 
thought the Secretary of State ought to give more 
reassuring cablegrams to Lowell,^ — generally he 
seemed to be mad. To suggest anything for diet 
or remedy seems to act upon him like a red rag on 
a bull. But all the same, after a while it leaks out 
that you have been listened to. 

Have received your daily letter, Walker. Thanks. 
Also M.'s. Thanks. With love, 

H. S. B. 

' James Russell Lovrell •nas then ^Minister to Great Britain. 
[ 228 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

You can't imagine anything so vile as Washing- 
ton. It seems Hke a weed by the wayside, covered 
with dust, too ugly for notice. 

Washington D. C. August 19th 1881.» 
Friday morning. 

My dear Children, — I am just through with 
breakfast, which we have taken at home. Bigelow 
sitting by for company. We have had cold roast 
beef, eggs, baked sweet potatoes, hashed potatoes, 
dry toast, French loaf, melon, tea and coffee. And 
when I this moment left this letter to go up stairs 
and hunt your Father's glasses, I found my bed beau- 
tifully made, so Caroline is a chambermaid, — an 
accomplishment I had not hitherto given her credit 
for. 

There was not a leaf of tea, a lump of sugar, an 
ounce of flour, a raisin, spice of any kind, butter, in 
fact an eatable of any description, in the house when 
we returned. But I observed the Rev. Solomon's 
shirts hanging on our line, and Caroline herself was 
in the house, and I could draw warm water, though 
Caroline assured me the washing had been done away 
from the house, only the starching being indulged in 
here. A nice distinction, as was said of the Beauty. 

I hardly know how I got through yesterday, 

* Written after the return from a visit to Augusta. 
[ 229 ] 



LETTERS OF 

though I think I did better with my time than your 
Father with his. I wrote some letters, visited the 
house twice, where your Father's activity causes me 
great anxiety as he now mounts the ladders and 
overlooks the second story floor. Was at the White 
House twice, and took quite a drive. Poor John, 
the clouds have returned after much rain, and neither 
the morning nor the evening is his day. One thing 
is in my favor, I have an appetite and with my bottle 
of currant, a loaf of fruit cake Mrs Hunter has made 
me, and a Dutch cheese, I bid fair soon to lose it. 

As to the President? Your Father had a long talk 
with Dr. Hamilton last night, which depressed him 
and rather encouraged me. I was in the carriage, 
and Dr. Hamilton stood at its door, so I heard all. 
He is anxious over the swelling of the gland, and is 
apprehensive that the President may have to stay in 
bed months, but the chances are in his favor. This 
is bad enough, but it is better than death, though 
your Father says an administration with a sick bed 
for its centre is not a pleasant thought. The Presi- 
dent took the whole of a raw onion chopped up in 
vinegar, and Col. Henry, ^ who told Mr Bigelow this, 
attributes the whole of his relapse to this cause. Dr 
Hamilton admitted to us that there was perhaps a 
cause in the pus which had not been reached. The 
» Col. Guy V. Henry, U. S. A. 
[ 230 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

channel of the wound, they now find, not having been 
cleaned for two weeks. They thought the passage 
was hcahng, but now find their mistake. 



To Walker, in Augusta 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, August 23rd, 1881. 
My dear Walker, — I hope you will dispose of 
all the letters possible at Augusta, as the care of this 
ever-accumulating debris comes upon me, and you 
know yourself the dreadful impedimenta which one 
day's mail can load our limited writing conveniences 
with. True, Mr Trescott and Mr Brown wait as- 
siduous for hours in the parlor, and their chief enter- 
tains them and himself often with bright talk, and 
William sits in the hall, rising like a jack-in-the-box 
whenever my august foot crosses the threshold, but 
all the attaches of the State Department fail to 
satisfy when I withhold my hand. So I consign all 
the envelopes to the waste basket, and put my ele- 
gant chirography on to the numerous letters from 
Victor Drummond,^ et al. and breathe freely only when 
I have put a rubber strap, as good as a lock and key, 
around the file. For I know your Father is never 

* Victor Arthur Wel!ino;ton Drummond, British Charge d'AfFaires 
at Washington in 1877, in 1880, and again in 1881 ; knighted in 1903. 
[ 231 ] 



LETTERS OF 

going to disturb anything so clerkly and tidy as a 
bundle of letters. I was at the White House last 
night, when I got another pound added to my already 
hopeless condition, Miss Edson ^ having, confidentially 
to Mrs. James,^ abandoned hope. Why indeed should 
that angel tarry longer by that bed: when the poor 
sufferer has lost his own identity, — praying to have 
that other man taken from him away, and to be re- 
lieved from that other man's face which cleaves to 
and drags upon his? Mrs. Garfield had retired, and 
about ten or perhaps later, we came home, when your 
Father penned his bulletin to Lowell, which Sevellon 
Brown - at eleven took to the telegraph office for him. 
We were just in the seclusion of our own room when 
a carriage drove up. Of course we think everything 
unusual means the White House, but this was Rams- 
dell,^ who had come, as it were, to hear his doom from 
our lips. Your Father went down and let him in, but 
alas could give him no comfort. I might as well 
stop writing, my interruptions are so discouraging. 
The S. of S. left his glasses at the White House last 

* Susan A. Edson, a physician from Auburn, N. Y., in constant at- 
tendance on President Garfield. For this service Congress appro{)ri- 
atcd to her $3000. Mrs. James was the wife of Thomas L. James, 
then Postmaster-General. 

^ Sevellon A. Brown, for many years chief clerk of the State 
DepTrtrnent. Daniel Ramsdell was correspondent of the Philadelphia 
Press at Washington. 

[ 232 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

night. i\line of course, when he needed them, grazed 
his nose. So I sent WilHam to the Executive Man- 
sion to get his. They were not there, but he had 
borrowed Dr Bhss's, so I have had to go down town 

and purchase for myself, and then Mrs M has 

just been in, and now we have been to the house, 
though I could not see that one brick had been laid 
on another since we were there yesterday. 

Caroline is making me an apple dumpling for 
dinner, but I have no interest in anything. I want 
to go home, and all the circumstances are monstrous. 
I spare you myself, which is a poor, mean, warmly- 
dressed, moist, dissatisfied body. Do be kind to my 
poor motherless children, and whenever you wake at 
night, think of me sleeplessly tossing and striking 
out at mosquitoes. 

H. S. B. 

We feel this morning a little bit better about the 
object of all our thoughts. 

Washington August 25th 1881. 
My dear Walker, — I suppose you can see us 
well as another that hope is over. This dreadful sick- 
ness will soon be over. Every night when I go to bed 
I try to brace for that telephone which I am sure 
before morning will send its shrill summons through 
[ 233 ] 



LETTERS OF 

our room. The morning is a little reassuring, for 
light itself gives courage. Your Father is in the 
parlor at this moment, where he has been for an hour 
with Mr. Chaifee ^ and Gen. Logan ^ — quite a re- 
prieve for me, who in the absence of better company, 
follow him upstairs and down like a dog. And yester- 
day Mr. Davis ^ of West Virginia was here, which also 
helped. Mr. Brown stays here too a great deal, and 
every night goes with us to the White House, wait- 
ing for your Father's despatches. We had no inti- 
mation yesterday of the proposed incision into the 
perotic gland. It was made, as I understand, be- 
cause of the danger of suffocation. 

To M., IN Augusta 

WAsmNGTON Sept 1st 1881, 9 p. m. 
My dear M., — Your Father and Mr. Allen have 
just left for the White House to get the data for the 
Lowell telegram. When you read those frank and 
discriminating telegrams in the morning Journal you 
may always see behind them your Father and the 
evening walk to the White House, and the interviews 

' Ex U. S. Senator Jerome B. Chaffee of Colorado. 

* Gen. John A. Logan, U. S. Senator from Illinois, and Repub- 
lican vice-presidential candidate v>ith Mr. Blaine in 1884. 

^ Henry Gassaway Davis, U. S. Senator from West Virginia and 
Democratic vice-presidential candidate with Judge Alton B. Parker 
in 19U4. 

[ 234 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

with the doctors, when the truth is made to stand 
and dehver herself, for the benefit of England and 
America. As I was within those formerly awe-inspir- 
ing portals yesterday, twice, I have stayed at home, 
and hence this note. 

We have agreed that this is the most discourag- 
ing day we have yet had, the heat is so great, and 
every particle of moisture seems to be dried out of 
earth, air and sky. I am not sleepy, but neither am 
I hungry. Yesterday, Mr. Robeson dined with us, 
and we had a soup and two other courses and wines. 
I cannot tell you how horrid it was. Nothing seemed 
right, and the door bell rang and Lewis was always 
out of the room, and your Father insisted on chicken 
when steak was the course, and altogether we agreed 
not to ask any brother again, not though he were 
starving. 

I have not sent the passes to Walker, because we 
are hoping to use them ourselves. I tried to talk 
your Father into leaving at two o'clock to-day, but 
he could not quite do that. He will try to urge on 
Mrs. Garfield to-night the importance of a change 
for the President. Poor dear Gaffy, how wretched it 
is! Wounded and sore and hurt to the death, he 
now to save his life, must dare to lose it. I send into 
his unseen room sympathy enough to float his bed, 
but he never knows it. 

[ 235 ] 



LETTERS OF 

I have nothing to tell. A great basket of delicious 
grapes has just come in, and I have had interesting 
letters from all sorts of people, and when everything 
else fails, there is the telephone. Mr. Phelps has 
written me a long letter, in which he inquires for 
M. filia. Old Judge Black ^ has been here all day, 
talking in an old fashioned delightful manner. I do 
hope I shall get home before Jamie leaves. Pity the 
sorrows of a poor old mother, and tell Walker " I 
want to go home." Allen thought judgment was 
spelled with an e after the g. Imagine your Father's 
satisfaction at worsting him. 

All sorts of flying creatures are coming in, too 
much light. I leave the world to darkness and to 
thee. With love, 

H. S. B. 



We are dreadfully anxious about that dear Gaffy, 
and your Father much exercised on the question of 

* Jeremiah Sullivan Black, Associate Justice, and later Chief 
Justice, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, dehvered the eulogy 
on President Andrew Jackson, and was a member of President Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet first as Attorney-General and next as Secretary of 
State, succeeding Lewis Cass of Michigan. At the close of the Bu- 
chanan administration, Judge Black resumed his law practice, ser\'ing 
in the Andrew Johnson impeachment trial, the Samuel J. Tilden and 
the Vanderbilt will cases. He was a "CampbelUte " by religion, and 
wrote a book in reply to Robert G. IngersoU. 
[ 236 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

disability. Should Arthur ^ be brought to the front, 
and how, and if this be done, how shall he be 
retired .'' 

Washington, Sunday evening, Sept 4 1881 
Deab. M., — Once more, everything is indecision 
with us, — shall the President be moved.'* Mrs. Gar- 
field is anxious for it, but I fear that if the excitement 
of getting him down stairs or any other phase of the 
journey, should affect him, he might faint, and if he 
should, he would never recover consciousness. He is 
very weak, and there is little to build on. Should he 
go away, your Father will go with or immediately 
follow him, and I shall take the N. E. train the same 
day for home. 

I have almost expected to get away tomorrow, but 
my last call at the White House, from which I am 
just returned, gives me no hope of that. I was there 
this morning and found Mrs. Garfield ready for to- 
morrow. Nothing can exceed the dryness of the air 
and disagreeability of the city. I lose heart and 
spirit — then they come back to me of their own 
accord. I do wish Jamie were not going to Exeter. 
Can't you talk him into waiting a year, and having 
a tutor.'* 

' Chester A. Axthur of New York, twenty-first President of the 
U. S., at that time Vice-President. "The couuti'y's ordeal iu cou- 

[ 237 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Mrs. Morton has written that you are to come 
over, and she will place you at a school. Excuse 
bre\'ity. I am not low spirited, but I consider Gaffy's 
case very unpromising. I doubt if I ever meet the 
dear old fellow again, in these walks of common life. 
With much love, 

H. S. B. 



West End Hotel, Long Branch, 
Thursday morning, Sept 8th, 1881 

Deaeest Chiudken, — I was packed for home 
Tuesday morning, and your Father for this place, 

nection with Garfield's death led to an important piece of legislation. 
Few were then or are now aware by what a slender thread the orderly 
government of our country hung between the shooting of Garfield in 
July, 1881, and the second sj^ecial session of Congress the following 
October. The law of March, 1792, declares that in case the Mce- 
President dies, is removed, or is disqualified, 'the President of the 
Senate pro tempore, or, if there is none, then the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives for the time being, shall act as President till the 
disability is removed or a President elected.' But at the time of 
Garfield's assassination neither a President pro tempore of the Senate, 
nor a Speaker of the House existed." ... A bill passed in 1886 pro- 
A-ides " that if the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency are both vacant, 
the Presidency passes to the members of the Cabinet in the historical 
order of the esUxblishment of their departments, beginning with the 
Secretary of State." — E. Benjamin Andrews: Tlie United States 
in Our Own Time. 

[238] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

when Mrs. Garfield sent me an affecting little note, 
which determined me to heed your Father's advice and 
stick to him, so with the aid of Allen and Adee,^ whose 
name ought to be spelled Aider, I got off at 10:30, 
and after as hot a day's journey as It was ever my 
privilege to suffer from, all sweat and dust, we 
reached this place at six that evening. All our jour- 
ney through we were cheered by bulletins from the 
President's car, telling us of the comfortable progress 
he Avas making, and as we knew that some of the 
doctors had feared the worst from the excitement 
and risk, each mile that we travelled gave us a re- 
newed assurance that the right step had at last been 
taken. But after getting here, after looking at the 
ocean with emotion, he is just the same. I do not 
believe he will recover. 

This hotel is about a mile from the Franklyn cot- 
tage, where he is. Every evening, the whole Cabinet 
with its wife, drive over to see the doctors and Mrs. 
Garfield, but I cannot explain why everything is so 
unsatisfactory. 

xA.fter breakfast: Henry has appeared, and is at 
this moment seated on the piazza with your Father, 
and Mr. Cohen and Mr. Sehgman and others, and 

' Alvcy A. Adee, chief of the Diplomatic Bureau of the State 
Dcparlmeut. 

[ 239 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Dana Horton * is here, not too wise, just wise enough, 
and the President is better, and at five we are going 
out to drive with Mr Montgomery. And this is 
about all there is of it. Our rooms are much the 
best I have ever seen in a seaside hotel, and the table 
is good. I cannot get away till next week, but hope 
to very soon. 



(fragment) 

1881 
(written from Elberon in September) ^ 

but I am tired out. I do not suppose I slept two 
hours last night; then the day has been full of ex- 

* Samuel Dana Horton, political economist and author. Secretary 
of the International Monetary Conference held at Paris in 1878. 

^ President Garfield died at Elberon on September 19. By previous 
arrangement a post mortem examination of the body of the President 
was made in the presence, and with the assistance of Drs. Hamilton, 
Agnew, Bliss, Barnes, Woodward, Reyburn, Andrew H. Smith of 
Elberon, and Acting Assistant Surgeon D. S. Lamb of the Army 
Medical Museum of Washington. The operation was performed by 
Dr. Lamb. "It was found " (the report reads), "that the ball, after 
fracturing the right eleventh rib, had passed through the spinal col- 
umn in front of the spinal cord, fracturing the body of the first lumbar 
vertebra, driving a number of small fragments of bone into the adja- 
cent soft parts and lodging below the pancreas about two and one- 
half inches to the left of the spine and behind the peritoneum, where 
it had become completely encysted. 

"The immediate cause of death was secondary hemorragc from 
one of the mesenteric arteries adjoining the track of the ball, the 
blood rupturing the peritoneum, and nearly a pint escaping into the 
abdominal cavity. This heraorrage is believed to have been the 

[ 240 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

citement of a most painful character, and I am going 
to see Mrs. Garfield again to-night. Then the jour- 
cause of the severe pain in the lower part of the chest complained of 
just before dcatli. An abscess cavity six inclies by four was found in 
the vicinity of the gall bladder, between the liver and the transverse 
colon, which were strongly adherent. It did not involve the sub- 
stance of the liver, no communication was found between it and the 
wound. 

"A long suppurating channel extended from the ex-temal wound 
between the loin muscles and the right kidney, almost to the right 
groin. This channel, now known to be due to the burrowing of pus 
from the wound, was supposed during hfe to have been the track of 
the ball. 

"On an examination of the organs of the chest evidences of severe 
bronchitis were found on both sides, with broncho-pneumonia of the 
lower portions of the right lung, and, though to a much less extent, 
of tlie left. The lungs contained no abscesses and the heart no clots. 
The liver was enlarged and fatty, but not from abscesses. Nor were 
any found in any other organ, except the left kidney, which contained 
near its surface a small abscess about one-third of an inch in diameter. 

"In reviewing the history of the case in connection with the autopsy 
it is quite evident that the different suppurating surfaces, and espe- 
cially the fractured, spongy tissue of the vertebrae, furnish a sufficient 
explanation of the septic condition which existed." 
[Signedl D. W. Bliss, 

J. K. B.VRNES, 
J. J. WoODWAED, 
ROBEUT ReYBURN, 

Fr,\nk H. H.vsnLTON, 
D. Hayes Agnew, 
Andrew H. Smith, 
D. S. Lamb. 
Official Bulletin of the Autopsy on the Body of 

President Garfield: Medical Record, New York, 
1881, vol. XX, p. 364. 
In this connection it is interesting to note that from the day of the 
assassination, Mr. Blaine insisted that the above-mentioned "long 
VOL. I —16 [ 241 ] 



LETTERS OF 

ney to-morrow. Mr. Osgood expects to be home 
Thursday at eight, and he can tell you everything. 
Please send this letter to Abby. The ink is so pale 
I cannot see it. Do look out that Jamie has his 
things, and write him every day. Goodbye, with 
love to all, 

H S B. 



To Alice, in Augusta 

October 23rd 1881 
Washington 4 p. m. Sunday afternoon 

Deau Alice, — If my letter leaves off in the 
middle without formal end, you will understand that 
I am hopelessly interrupted. Tom is hghting the 
lamp at the table, and your Father is reading a State 
paper at the other window, I being at the first, to 
Mr. Chandler. How he manages to keep his mind 
single for any subject I cannot imagine, as I have 
never in all my long and varied experience seen any- 
thing like the rush to the house. Yet to-day he has 
written directions for papers, has seen men on private 

suppurating channel " could not have been the trail of the bullet. He 
was slightly deaf in the left ear, and by the distinct sound of the 
bullet, he was conviucetl that it had passed his right ear and had 
consequently entered the President's body at a diftercnt angle from 
the one assumed by the doctors' theories. The autopsy alas ! proved 
that he had been correct. 

[ 242 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

and public business, has seen foreign Ministers, has 
had exhaustive talks on matters of vital importance, 
and all this with every room filled, — apparently with- 
out disturbance to himself. Miss Knox was so 
prompt and successful in her fits that we found we 
need not wait for the night train, so as I say we got 
over here late last night. Maj. and Mrs. and Lanier 
Dunn, and Lizzie Cameron, were in the same car, and 
Gen. Thomas and Mrs. Ewing on the train, and Vir- 
ginia to Pliiladelphia, so that we managed not to feel 
too tired. At the station, which I am sorry to say, 
we reached an hour late, we found Walker in evening 
dress just roused from a nap which he had been tak- 
ing, leaning against one of the uprights of the depot. 
He had with him a carriage, not of the State Depart- 
ment, and we were soon, a little before twelve, at 
home, where your Father met us, also in evening 
dress, — more glad, he said, to see us than ever be- 
fore in his hfe. By the time we were well in. Walker 
had whisked him off to a German banquet,^ while Tom, 
M. and I sat down to supper. The house looked 
beautifully, though I discover to-day that from top 
to bottom it needs cleaning. Not a pane of glass, 

' Banquet fjiven in honor of the German guests \nsiting this coun- 
trj' to celebrate the anniversary of the surrender at Yorkto^-n. The 
chief foreii^n quests were the Marquis de llochambeau from France, 
and Baron von Steuben from Germany. 

[ 243 ] 



LETTERS OF 

not a panel of a door can be spared. And then my 
window curtains that went to Missouri — how I want 
them! 

H. S. B. 

To M., IN England 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, Nov 6, 1881, 
Sunday morning 

Dearest M., — It is my sacred duty as well as 
highest privilege, to inaugurate this morning, a 
daily correspondence, which I hope will have on its 
many pages, only the record of happy hours. After 
you had left us, not we you, yesterday morning, and 
we turned away from the pier only as the " Illinois " 
was vanishing, mindful of your Father's injunction 
not to watch the departing out of sight, we drove 
back to the Continental, where my first overt act was 
to go to the breakfast table and eat a quantity of 
buckwheat cakes. The other H. soon joined me and 
did Hkewise. We neither of us had the slightest 
previous intention of so doing, but the sight of the 
three Sherman sisters indulging in the sweets of 
honey and buckwheat and each other, proved irresist- 
ibly attractive, and you know by this time, it seemed 
about the eleventh hour of the day. I spent the 
rest of the forenoon attending to H's wardrobe, and 
looking at old furniture, getting back to the hotel 
[ 244 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

in time to lunch with your Father, preparatory to his 
leaving for New York on the Limited. I looked so 
good to liim, that he determined to go back to Wash- 
ington with us, but Jacky's entreaties prevailed, and 
the original plan was carried out. After their de- 
parture, I had time to shoe and stocking your little 
sister, and when I send you her picture, you may 
consider that from the crown of her head to the sole 
of her foot, she is a monument of the Philadelphia 
trip, and a perpetual reminder of you, a sort of Guy 
Fawkes to be forever associated with the 5th of No- 
vember. Before your Father left Philadelphia, he sent 
telegrams saying that you had sailed, to Aunt Susan, 
to Cousin Abby, to Mr. Manley, to J. G. B. Jr. Of 
course he took to himself all the credit for the final 
perseverance of St. Margaret, but, dear soul ! who 
finds fault with the weaknesses of the mighty .'* AU 
the rest of your friends. Including Lizzie and Rachel, 
left Philadelphia on the six o'clock train, reaching 
Wasliington at ten. Whatever else we have gained 
or lost in Philadelphia, we have certainly added to 
our belongings, for Emmons was encumbered with 
a hat-box and hand bag, an umbrella, and a bonnet 
box containing Alice's veil and H.'s new hats ; then 
we had a box of shoes, and nobody knows what else 
beside; but in spite of all these minor burdens, and 
the great one of a daughter at sea, and the Incon- 
[245 ] 



LETTERS OF 

venience of no chairs in the Pullman, the hundred 
miles between Philadelphia and Baltimore slipped by 
like a watch in the night. I hope you noticed the 
beauty of the heavens, for I suppose there was no 
land for you to look on. Lewis met us at the station 
with a carriage, and Maggie Nurse was waiting to 
open the door upon all the light and color and warmth 
of the old house, as well as one of Caroline's best 
suppers. 

Monday, 10 a. m. 
An eight o'clock breakfast, and a rainy day give 
me the prospect of long uninterrupted hours, which 
I shall improve to the advantage of Alice's old black 
silk, which needs an extra ruffle, and H.'s old gold, 
which is in a similar predicament. Our early break- 
fast was for Emmons's benefit, who wants to get off 
for New York at 10:30 to attend the ball this even- 
ing, for which your Father has telegraphed him. 
He is now at the Post Office Department, trying to 
get his business started. Mrs. Hale spent a good 
part of the day with me yesterday, and Emmons 
breakfasted and dined at the B.'s ; but while I have 
you in all my thoughts, I think they were mostly 
congratulatory at your really carrying out this long 
arranged plan. I have had a great shock this morn- 
ing, occasioned by the sight of as innocent an object 
[ 246 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

as your clothes bag, which, with its double row of 
mourning strings, confronted me as I pulled out one 
of the secretary drawers this morning. I shall now 
dedicate it to Alice and Fort Leavenworth, but what 
becomes of all the sentiment I stitched into it? 
H. is very blue this morning, nor does her story 
of the " Buried Alive," which in regular order, she 
has now reached in her Arabian Nights, tend to ele- 
vate her spirits. To aid in this highly desirable 
elevation, I have proposed that she take Maggie 
Nurse out to see the new house, so they are now 
waiting for John, as it is too wet for walking. 
Unless I begin now to tell you what we have to eat, I 
do not see how I can entertain you the remainder of 
this sheetful, and in fact, Carohne has just appeared 
with a large yellow apple on a china dish to see if 
I consider it ripe enough for mince pies, and what 
H. calls " invisible moose." Alice has just been in 
to see Rachel's wrap, which she is anxious to sell, 
but finds her gone to market, and in general, the 
females of your family are left to themselves and the 
weather, and though not in one accord, are in one 
place, and the Harriets send 3'ou volumes of love 
and good wishes enough to last you all your stay 
away. 

From your own, 

Mother. 
[ 247 ] 



LETTERS OF 

821 Fifteenth St "Washington, Nov 9, 1881. 

Wednesday afternoon. 

Dearest M., — A very dark day is drawing to an 
end. I have not been out, but Emmons came while we 
were at breakfast, and Lizzie Cameron, with Rachel 
and Lizzie Sherman, has been here to lunch. I hope 
you escape this wretchedly lifeless weather, which we 
are suffering from all the time, a wet Lidian summer. 
I have not been " at home " this afternoon, though 
two or three got in accidentally — the Danish Min- 
ister and Mme. de Bille ^ and Mr. Gallaudet.- The last 
came to consult me about a memorial service to Gar- 
field as a man of letters. Caroline gave us a lovely 
lunch, and we all wished you here and thought and 
spoke of you constantly. Sanford's^ oranges and 
mandarines graced the table, though I could wish he 
had left them to ripen on the tree a little more sweetly. 
Your Father and Jacky are still in Now York, though 
I think it would be more sensible if Walker would 
come home, for Emmons says he is dead tired. They 
could not wake him up to go to the ball. Your 
Father stays now to oblige Arthur, who wants him 
to come over with him. 

' The Danish representative in 1880-82 was Carl Stem Ander- 
son de Bille, who was the Charge d'Aff aires from 1880-8'-2, and 
then recog^nized as INIinister Resident. 

* Edward Miner Gallaudet, Ph.D., of Philadelphia. 

^ Henry D. Sanford, afterwards Minister to Belgium. 
[ 248 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Nov. 13. 
Your Father is delighted to be home again, and it 
seems good to me, I assure you. This morning we 
have been out to the house, in and over it. I have 
thought a good deal about it, this last dark, stormy, 
gloomy November week. Your Father has retired 
from the State Committee, after a chairmanship of 
twenty-one years. Gen. CorkhilP is in the parlor, talk- 
ing of the Guiteau trial, which commences to-morrow. 
Do you know, there is quite a desire that he may be 
convicted of insanity.'' A more dangerous sentiment 
could hardly become fashionable. Mrs. Lambard has 
written me a letter of sympathy at losing you, and 
having you on the ocean, which reminds me that my 
anxiety on the latter account is almost over. Yes, 
you are now nearly through with your eighth day, 
and I hope soon to hear of your arrival in England. 
Maggie nurse has gone to visit her aunt's grave and 
to lay on it a wreath, to-wit, one of the calico baskets 
which the Public Gardens twice a week send to me. 
She has a new crepe hat, made from the Garfield por- 
trait mourning drapery. 

* Gea. Corkhill conducted the prosecution of Guiteau. 



[ 249 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Monday. 

Mr. Sanford has returned, as a call from him at 
eleven o'clock last night only too surely testifies. 
Walker and I were nodding at each other over the 
parlor fire, and your Father and Mr. Chandler dis- 
cussing the Canal paper in the dining room, when 
on our dullness and absorption in national affairs, 
entered this Florida orange merchant. He sails 
Wednesday on the White Star Line. Every steamer 
seems now to carry out some friend of yours. We 
expect Jamie and Emmons to-morrow, then, as in 
Philadelphia, I shall have five children with me. 

Your Father is making ready to present Mr. West i 
to the President. He is as busy as can be, and you 
know what that means with him. Tom is making 
out comparisons between areas of countries. The 
bills for the foreign guests are being inspected. Mr 
Trescott is examining with him the statements for the 
President's message, and unknown men are waiting 

' The Hon. Lionel Sack\'ille-West, who succeeded Sir Edward 
Thornton as British JNlinister at Washington ; later Baron Sack\ ille, 
died in 1908. The late Baron Sackville was driven from his position 
at Washington by the newspaper publication in 1888 of a letter he 
had wTitten to one Murchison, expressing his belief that England 
preferred IVIr. Cleveland's election to that of Mr. Harrison, — an 
incident which not only discredited him, but ended his diplomatic 
career. 

[ 250 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

in the parlor, and alas ! our dinner comes off Wednes- 
day. 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, Nov 16, 1881, 
Wednesday a. m. 

Dear M., — This is the day of the Sackville-West 
and President dinner, and as I have no cook but Caro- 
hne, and only one man, and only Maggie for a 
chambermaid, I shall be heartily glad when it is 
over. I have gone over the bill of fare till my head 
swims, and no doubt I am borrowing a great deal of 
trouble, besides weakening everybody's confidence 
in the dinner. Emmons and Walker will both be at 
the table. And now to more pleasing topics. Yes- 
terday about noon, I was telephoned from the Depart- 
ment by Walker, this telegram from Philadelphia. 
" The Illinois passed Holyhead at eleven o'clock this 
morning, English time," and this morning here is the 
arrival of the IlHnois in the regular shipping news, 
and so Tom Donaldson's assurance " that Miss 
M. is as safe as though landed at the pier in Liver- 
pool," is made good. So to-day, we all fancy you 
taking your first impression of an English town, 
which your Father says is not very different from 
an American town. 

H. S. B. 
[ 251 ] 



LETTERS OF 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington Nov 20th 1881. 
My dear M., — Your Father, after spending his 
entire morning on despatches, is oif for the Presi- 
dent's, and Walker, who has been with his little 
sister to St. John's, comes in and Lewis brings up 
fresh lunch, and all goes on to the tune of Auld 
Lang Syne. I do not know when I wrote my last 
letter to you, but I believe I have had two dinners 
and one luncheon party since then. The first was, 
as you know, the much dreaded dinner to the Presi- 
dent, and I might add to Mr. West, only that you 
can never have two chiefest lions at the same dinner, 
and in this case, the lion was the American eagle. 
It went oif beautifully. Five handsome and beauti- 
fully dressed women besides myself, whose reputation 
I leave to my dearest daughter : Cameron, Beale, Robe- 
son, Schlesinger, Outrey. But while I am admiring 
women, let me not fail to do honor to Mrs. Solomon 
Hunter, to whom we are indebted for a most satis- 
factorily cooked dinner. No French gravy disgusted 
my appetite, all was sweet and clean, hot and whole- 
some, and everybody was so gay that not a moment 
dragged, till at nearly twelve, the party broke up. 
Mr. Sackville-West was very agreeable and cordial, 
and extremely ready to be entertained. I leave you 
to judge of my feelings, when, while I was still in 
[ 252 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

labor with this dinner, in fact having my hair dressed 
for it, your Father walked into that temple of mer- 
chandise, my bedroom, with the announcement that 
having entirely forgotten to invite Sir Leonard and 
Lady Tilley ^ to this dinner, I must make up another 
for the next day, and sure enough, Thursday, besides 
the nobility mentioned b}" my proud pen, I found the 
Prex, Seci'etary and Mrs. Hunt, Gen. Baird,^ Col. 
Bliss,^ Mr. and Mrs. Jolin Davis, dining with the five 
Blaines. And yesterday, Miss Gary, who had sung 
in concert the night before in Washington, came to 
breakfast, and with her the Robesons and Lincolns. 
Poor Lewis looked absolutely white, he was so tired, 
and as for Caroline, I have been expecting every 
meal to hear that she was found wanting. Emmons 
got away last night. I hated to have him go, for he 
is a dear son as well as most agreeable gentleman ; 
but having secured a three hours' talk with your 
Father on business matters, he went off very cheerful. 

821 FiPTEENTH St. WAsmNGTON Nov 30th, 1881 
My dear M., — I drop 3'ou a line during the last 
hour before the closing of the French mail at the 

* Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, from 1873-78 Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of New Brunswick; died in 1896. 

* Gen. Absalom Baird of Pennsylvania. In Sherman's march to 
the sea, he commanded the 14th Army Corps. He had been a class- 
mate of Mr. Blaine at Washington College, Pennsylvania. 

* Col. ^Uexander Bliss of Washington, Mr. Bancroft's son-in-law. 

[253] 



LETTERS OF 

State Department. In about two weeks I shall have 
to forego the privilege of that despatch bag, hunt 
up thin paper, crowd my lines and reckon my words 
before they are written. I am alone, sweet and blessed 
privilege! Down stairs Alice is entertaining Jim- 
mie Walker, a solemn cousin of yours, who believes 
in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and your 
Father, Mr. Hitt, Trescott, Walker and Tom, at 
the dining room table, gas Hghted, are diligently 
working on State papers, to which I have already 
listened and have affixed the sign of my approval. 
Walker ^ is to go Friday. What do you suppose I 
can do without him.? But the embarrrassments of the 
change of administration he will be spared; also 
a society winter in Washington, which I consider 

* "When Mr. Blaine entered the Department of State, war was 
waging between Chili and Peru, and he sought to exercise the good 
ofBces of our government, first, for the restoration of peace, and 
second, to mitigate the consequences of the crushing defeat sustained 
by Peru. Other efforts failing, he despatched William Henry Tres- 
cott on a special mission to offer the friendly services of the United 
States ; but this attempt was interrupted and frustrated by his retire- 
ment from the department." — Apjdeton's Encyclopadia of American 
Biography. 

On November 28, 1881, President Arthur appointed William 
Henry Trescott, of South Carolina, Special Envoy, etc., etc., to Chili, 
Peru, and Bolivia. Mr. Trescott was accompanied by Mr. Walker 
Blaine, then third assistant Secretary of Stiite, and INIr. Trescott was 
empowered by the President to authorize Mr. Blaine to represent 
him at any point where necessity might require. — State Department 
Iteport. 

[ 254 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

no loss for him. Also the risk of the loss of some of 
his pleasantest intimacies. I hope to get through 
myself without breaks. Mrs. Phelps sails to-day, to 
join Mr. Phelps at Vienna. I hoped he might be 
back by this time, but this looks like a winter's deten- 
tion. Your Father gains constantly. He is now re- 
gaining his flesh, which does not give him apparently 
the satisfaction it ought. 

I was at the Spanish Minister's ^ night before last, 
a most pleasant party, though as he comes from a 
part of Spain where exaggeration is the positive de- 
gree, I suffered a little from their politeness, being 
taken out to supper first, placed behind a small table, 
loaded wiih supper, wine and tea, no one coming to 
keep me company, till I had had all the honor of my 
solitary state. 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. Friday evening Nov 25th, 1881. 
My dear M., — I am just in from the Guiteau 
trial, where I have been for the second time. I can- 
not tell you how interesting it is, though I was very 
much afraid to-day, I might be embarrassed by the 
pulling to pieces of the Oneida Community. ^ I went 

* Felipe ]\Iendez de Vi,G;o y Osorio, Spanish Minister to the U. S. 
1879-81, succeeding Senor Polo y Bcmabe. 

^ One of the witnesses in the Guiteau trial had testified to the 
erratic character of Guiteau's fatlier, who was at one time a member 

[ 2o5 ] 



LETTERS OF 

with Walker and Orville Baker, but both my escorts 
left me at the recess, and then I had a chair by INIrs. 
Robeson, who was there with Mrs. Emory. ^ I found 
them on the most intimate terms with Mrs. Richer, 
a lawyeress from New Hampshire, a tall woman with 
short hair, sitting like a man unhatted, a cheap rulf 
around her neck, good features, altogether a char- 
acter. Knowing all the resources of the court room, 
she took Mrs. Emory to a dressing room, coming 
back with her hands full of apples, to which she 
treated her distinguished friends. To-morrow, Judge 
Davidge has warned his lady friends to stay at home. 
Orville arrived yesterday morning and leaves to- 
morrow. He dined with us yesterday, and Walker 
took him to the matinee in the afternoon with E. B, 

of the so-called Oneida Community which cherished unconventional 
views with respect to marriage. Guiteau (Charles Jules), had by 
turns tried law, lecturing, the ministry, and politics, and his motive 
in the assassination of President Garfield was supposed by many 
persons at the time to be due to his disappointment at not receinng 
some minor ofEce under the Administration, so that the afl'air had 
something to do, though indirectly, with the death of the old "spoils 
system." He was found guilty in January-, 1882, but his obstreperous 
and garrulous behavior during the trial was extraordinary. Judge Cox 
at one time threatening to have him gagged. The conduct of the 
trial wns outspokenly criticised in the daily papers at the time, the 
New York Tribune remarking that it would "put the I"nited States 
to shame in the eyes of the European countries if they did not know 
that in the prosecution of criminals Washin;Tton ceased to be the 
capital of the nation and became a Maryland village." 
» Wife of General William Helmsley Emorj-, U. S. A. 

[ 256 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

and Lizzie Cameron. Lizzie also dined with us. Mr 
Cameron was sick and E. B., who is staying with JMrs 
Cameron dined at Mrs. Adams's, coming in here at 
nine with chattering teeth and a cold back, the house 
being as cold as that celebrated blood. She said she 
sent for her fur shoes and her cloak, and that when 
she went out to dinner she looked as though going 
for a sleigh-ride. 

My family is again diminishing. Walker goes 
next week, or rather leaves for South America. ]\Ir. 
Trescott is sent out by this government as Envoy 
to look into the Peru and Chilean matters, and 
Walker goes with him as assistant. They will be away 
the entire winter. Walker is both pleased and sorry. 
It looks good to him to stay here through the winter 
— at the same time, he will be glad to add to his 
travels and experience, and perhaps reputation, and 
if the changes which are coming involve personal 
relations, he may be spared some painful scenes — 
with a chance that time, the great mollifier, may be- 
fore his return smooth away all acerbities. It is a 
little hard on me, to lose my three appreciative chil- 
dren. H. is now through with Vanity Fair. Now 
she begins with Mademoiselle Seron in Music, with 
the dentist, Henry Esmond with mc, drawing with 
Adelaide Outre3''s teacher, a doll's party at Ethel 
Robeson's to-morrow, and French at Madam Burr's 
VOL. 1-17 [ 2.57 ] 



LETTERS OF 

school. With all these divisions and subdivisions, I 
hope that time may not hang too heavy on her hands. 
The dinner at Mrs. Hunt's was Getchell's I think, 
and of course poor, — with a company exceptionally 
interesting. Arthur is so social and fond of being 
away from his lonely habitation on Capitol Hill,^ 
and etiquette requiring everyone to stay until he 
leaves, it becomes an interesting problem how to end 
a dinner before twelve o'clock — but we did iret home 
from the Hunts a little before that hour. What do 
you suppose the turkey Mr. Anthony ^ sent me 
weighed.'' Thirty-eight pounds, and Caroline roasted 
it fit for the gods. 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON Dec 7th 1S81, 

Wednesday morning. 

My dear M., — AHce is just starting for the trial 
with Mrs. Kinsley, and your Father and Mr. Chand- 
ler are talking some Mexican matters, apparently of 
interest, as the former is fast working himself into 
a fury. I am trying to catch the foreign mail which 
closes at the Department to-day at twelve. Congress 
is in session, so we are daily expecting your Father's 

' President Arthur lived temporarily in the Butler Mansion, New 
Jersey Avenue and B Street, S. W., while the White House was being 
renovated. Mrs. Arthur, who was a daughter of Commodore W illiam 
Lewis Herndon, U. S. N., died in 1880. 

^ Senator Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island. 

[ 258 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

head to roll in the basket. I cannot but feel a little 
blue, though the person chiefly interested was never 
gayer or in better health. Last night he dined at 
the Spanish Minister's and to-morrow we go to Mr. 
West's. The Hales are settled in the Morton house/ 
with which they are perfectly delighted. It is a 
charming house, full of sunshine and all manner of 
possibilities. Mr. Hale's mother died Monday, and 
he has now gone to Turner to the funeral. Mrs. H. 
spent last evening with me, also Mr. Reed, who feels 
the loss of the Speakership ; not that he had ever a 
good prospect of getting it, but it was a beckoning 
ambition, and he seems to be without a polestar. Not 
one word do we yet know about your voyage. I am 
so glad you like the Scotts. Indeed I can think of 
little but yourself and would like to talk of nothing 
but the rare wonder of your actually having been 
to London. I suppose to-day you commence your 
school. We expect C. A. in a fortnight. I am now 
going to re-read your letters. Walker's friends 
come in every day to bewail his departure. You see 
of course that Mr. Kilpatrick ^ is dead. 
With love from everybody, 

H. S. B. 

* The residence of Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, later 
occupieil by :\rr. L. P. iVIorton of New York. Its site is part of the 
present Shoreham Hotel. 

=" Brig.-Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, ISIinister to Chili from 1865-70, 
[ 259 ] 



LETTERS OF 

821 Fifteenth St, Washington Dec 11th 1881. 

Friday evening. 

My dearest M., — I have been again to-day 
to the Trial — the most interesting place, by all 
odds, in Washington — and after enduring the bad 
air and shifting companionship of the crowded court- 
room for three hours, and after gaping with the rest 
of the crowd at the van till Guiteau sprang into it 
like a rabbit, I drove home with Mrs. Kinsley, stop- 
ping on the way to look at photographs of the Presi- 
dent and of Mrs. Garfield and of Guiteau, which I 
am intending to send to Lady Thornton. Found no 
one at home, and an untouched luncheon table stand- 
ing. H. had gone to Mrs Cameron's, Alice to Mrs 
Baird's, Jamie was on his travels, your Father at the 
Department, and this, alas, includes my family. I 
am conscious of a great want. It is right and 
natural, and for the highest good of those most 
nearly concerned, that my three children should be 
away, but it is not a costless sacrifice. I pay dearly 

and reappointed in 1881. He died in Valparaiso, Dec. 4, 1881. In 
a letter dated Dec. 13, 1881, Walker Blaine wrote to his father: 

"Poor Kilpatrick, how short his enjo.\Tiient ! I recall his extrava- 
gant joy when he received the place last May, and now he's gone, 
leaving the little wife and two children in Chili. ... I am extremely 
complimented by the high honor which the President has paid in 
making me charge. Mr. Trescott was, I think, extremely gratified, 
as it removes any embarrassment that might attend the success of 
the mission by a new man being sent." 
[ 260 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

for Emmons's business, for Walker's opportunities, 
and for your French. Col. Corkhill assures me that 
Guiteau will be hung. If he is not, as dreadful a 
villain as civilization has produced, will go unwhipped 
of justice. 

All your letters have now come and I can make 
a complete Progress for you from the moment you 
arrived at the Mersey till the day before you left 
London. Every word is interesting you write, but I 
am sorry not to know something of your voyage. 
All your letters have been started this afternoon to 
South America. Last night we dined at the British 
Legation. Twenty-five at the table, representing 
thirteen nationahties, ourselves the only Americans. 
It was a pleasant dinner, though not so good a one 
as Lady Thornton's cook, whom Lizzie Cameron now 
has, would have given us, and the house is frightfully 
bare, all the cabinets empty, no bric-a-brac, no pic- 
tures. I was taken out to dinner by the host, and 
on the whole, had rather an agreeable evening. The 
President has to-day telegraphed Walker to be 
charge d'affaires at Chili till Kilpatrick's successor 
is appointed. Did you ever know of such luck as 
he has? The President went into the White House 
Wednesday. 

Do you notice that Arthur was unwise enough to 
destroy the letter Guiteau wrote him after the Presi- 
[261 ] 



LETTERS OF 

dent's death? I am thoroughly tired, but am always 
yours, with the greatest love, 

H. S. B. 

821 FiiTEENTH St. Washington Dec 13th 1881, 

Tuesday mornintj. 

Dearest M., — We are at breakfast. H with her 
Philly, your Father cutting around the outer crust 
of all the corn cake, Alice latest of all, and Jamie 
with inky fingers, fresh from his Caesar, which he had 
been translating with a free hand and out loud at the 
last minute, at your Father's desk. 

Well, my dearest daughter, Frelinghuysen's ^ name 
was sent in yesterday and yesterday confirmed, and 
in a few days, he will take the oath of office, and for 
the first time in twenty-three years, he (your Father) 
finds himself out of public life, he entering the legis- 
lature in '58. Of course he is extremely busy, getting 
ready to welcome his successor, so I cannot yet judge 
how the absolute freedom will affect him, but I have 
few misgivings. One of our first privileges will be 
to give a diplomatic party to meet the Freling- 
huysens, and then I rather hope we shall shut down 
on dinners and all that sort of outlaj^, for a little 
wliile. 

Your Father and I dined at the Hales Sunday even- 

' Frederick T. Frelinrjhuyscn of New Jersey was appointed Sec- 
retary of State by President Arthur. 

[ 2G2 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

ing, the first persons to cat at their board since they 
went into the Morton house. We went unexpectedly, 
at tlie last moment leaving a most interesting supper, 
which Lewis had just brought up. I think the house 
they are in charming, and we had a nice visit, your 
Father being in one of his irresistible moods, when no 
man, I care not who he may be, can surpass him. 
Then, as Mr Chandler says, I would rather hear him 
than eat. 

To Walker, in South Aimerica 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington Dec 13 1881 

Tuesday morning. 

Dearest Walker, — The bell is being pulled 
every moment, and at each tinkle, I look up, hoping 
to see a telegram which will prove to be from the 
Isthmus, for we began to hope to hear from you 
Sunday, and it seems a very attenuated pathway on 
which the lambent flame now plays. 

Clarence Hale is here, trying to get an answer 
from your Father for Mr. RolHns,^ from whose house 
he has just arrived, as to whether he will speak at 
the New England dinner. And Mr Frye is here, and 
Robeson and Gibson,^ and Mr West — these are all 

» Edward H. Rollins, IMember of Congress and later Senator from 
New Hampshire. 

» Randall Gibson, U. S. Senator from Louisiana. 

[ 2G3 ] 



LETTERS OF 

in, but there is a circle kept outside, larger and more 
importunate than this privileged one. Mr Freling- 
huysen's name yesterday sent in and at once con- 
firmed, seems to time the day and provisions of grace. 
Your Father has promised me that once out, he will 
not try to get places for this hungry horde of office 
seekers. I cannot help feehng a little blue over the 
loss of place. Do you suppose that a Prime INIinister 
ever went out without a secret feelinp" that he was 
deprived of a right.? But every day I see the wis- 
dom of your timely absence. For instance, Sunday 
afternoon, when I was at the B.'s, it taxed all my 
equanimity to hear them cahnly discussing 3'our 
Father's removal without remembering to regret it, 
even to me. Not the shadow of a shade of compli- 
mentary allusion passed the lips of one. Everything 
that was kind was said of you, and with an air of 
proprietorship, which had they been nice in other 
directions, would have warmed my heart, but what 
are you, my dearest boy, what care I for any other 
name than your Father's? He himself says that you 
have more of a reputation than he had at your age, 
but you must remember that he rose without advan- 
tage, while you are free born. 

Gen B is, I suppose, going into the Cabinet. I 
understand Grant insists. The first privilege we 
shall enjoy, is the giving a party to the Freling- 
[ 264 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

huysens to meet the Diplomatic Corps, and I antici- 
pate the luxury of choice in my guests. They have 
just telephoned from the State Department that a 
cipher despatch from Mr. Trescott at the Istlimus, 
is there, so farewell to anxiety. 

Wednesday 
We dined at the Allisons' last night — dull dinner, 
Mrs. R. talking self and nursery and Paris salons 
and Oscar Wilde and cotillion (pronounced French 
fashion) to which her girls — M,, S. and INIiss P., 
" the latter with a mediasval lily in her hand and look- 
ing do you know, exactly like a figure out of stained 
glass " — had gone unprotected, until this paragon 
of duennas should get there; and R., who is con- 
sidered a sort of assistant Speaker, he having un- 
doubtedly presided at the appointment of committees, 
talking old poetry, invariably misquoting; and Mr. 
Evarts, sandwiched between Mrs. Story ^ and Mr. 
Bancroft ; — I with Secretary Howe,^ who is old and 
weak ; — and our dear little hostess as flighty as a 
bird ; — and the Outreys. 

I am writing this sheet by fits and starts over 
3'our Father's bed, where he lies helpless with the gout, 
and since the top of the other page, I have adminis- 

1 Wife of Cii]yt?.m Jolin Storj', U. S. A. 

^ Timothy O. Howe, Postmaster-General under President Arthur. 

[2G5 ] 



LETTERS OF 

tered his breakfast, his soda, his medicines, and an 
amount of sympathy and attention such as I could 
not give to any other human being. Now Tom is 
taking down in shorthand a letter of regret to Mr. 
Hutchins,^ that on account of hoarseness he finds 
himself unable to preside at the Webster Centennial 
meeting, and Senator Plumb" has just telephoned 
from the senate that a party of Kansas gentlemen 
will call this evening and pay their respects, and I 
have telephoned back hoarseness. So you see we are 
to-day as you have a thousand times seen us. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hunt were here Sunday and stayed to lunch. 
Not one word has the President said to him about 
staying, nor to Mr. Kirkwood ^ either. I can see 
that the President is bored by having these reminders 
of Garfield still about him. Good-bye, with oceans 
of love from all the Blaines. 

To M., IN Pakis 

821 Fifteenth St. Wednesday morning, Dec 14th, 1S81. 
My dear M., — Mr. Frelinghuysen has just called. 
A note came before your Father was up, asking 
for an interview. Everything connected with the 

* Stilson Ilutchins, journalist, of Washington. 
2 Preston B. Plumh, I'. S. Senator from Kansas. 
^ Sanuiel Jordan Kirkwcod of Iowa, President Garfield's Secre- 
tarj' of the Interior. 

[ 2GG ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

State Department is all right, most of all the retir- 
ing Secretary, who went with me last night to an 
auction of water colors, and amused himself by buy- 
ing many pictures. 

Your first Paris letters came this morning. De- 
lighted to get them and they now lie before me, 
enveloped for Emmons. I see there were double 
stamps on them, so I suppose they did not come by 
the despatch bag. Walker was to leave the Isthmus 
yesterday for Callao. Rachel has just been in, left 
her love for you. Your Tribune has been started 
three weeks ago. Do not feel uneasy about anything 
3'ou may hear politically. The Chili and Peru busi- 
ness need not give you the slightest concern. It is 
a decided policy instead of drifting, as cowardly 
Americans only desire to do. Your Father has as- 
serted the rights of this country, as was his bounden 
duty. Goodbye, with love, 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. Friday evening, 

WAsmNGTON Dec 16th, 1881. 

Deab M., — I am in the midst of the invita- 
tions to a reception which your father is to give 
Monday evening to the Diplomatic Corps to meet 
Mr. Frelinghusen, and to keep the house from being 
overcrowded, most of the notes remain unsent, though 
[ 2G7 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Tom is perseveringly writing out the original list. 
I have written myself all out to Walker, so you will 
get little more than love and good wishes. Yestei'- 
day I went in to see the Frelinghuysens. The Eugene 
and Clarence Hales dined here yesterday, also the Alli- 
sons ^ and Mr. Chandler. Mrs. Allison was never 
prettier or better dressed. Your Father has just 
looked up through his glasses, to say that he has 
bought Hitt's horse for $180. I hail this as the 
beginning of a stable. Alice is just starting for a 
Presbyterian fair, first going through the inevitable 
preliminary of asking for money. H. is reading 
and eating buttered toast, deeply lamenting that 
Maggie Nurse, by her untimely zeal, has deprived 
her of the pleasure of dining at the Camerons, as she 
had fully intended to do, and Jamie is here with a 
pair of new shoes, larger than ever, and not as sweet 
as the rose, which he wants my authorization for pur- 
chasing. Mr. Bigelow and Joseph Manley have 
been in from the Guiteau trial, which they found 
extremely interesting. I had a lovely letter from 
Mrs. Garfield this morning, very simple, very effec- 
tive and affecting. I shall send it to Lady Thornton, 
as there is in it a very kind message to her. 

Brewster " is made Attorney General. All the 

1 William B. Allison, TJ. S. Senntor from Iowa. 
' Benjamin H. Brewster of Pemisylvania. 

[ 2G8 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Stalwarts are going in, and though the mills of 
Arthur may seem to grind slow, they grind exceeding 
fine. But whatever 3'ou may read or hear, always 
remember that your Father is a very careful as well 
as able man, and that because the press criticises, you 
need feel no apprehensions — there often is advan- 
tage in the very criticism. Abby is coming Monday 
— quite suddenly it seems, though we have waited so 
long. Good-night, with love, 

H. S. B. 

* "He (Arthur) had been one of the chief representatives of a 
faction in the Republican Party, and he never seemed al)le to shake 
off the influences wliich had surrounded him before his election. . . . 
He made a fatal mistake, as it always seemed to me, in {x^rmitting 
the resignation of President Garfield's Cabinet and filhng their 
places with men who, like himself, belonged to the Grant faction. 
If he had said he would not allow the hand of an assassin to make 
a change in the forces that were to control the Administration so far 
as could be helped, and that he would carry into effect the purposes 
of his predecessor wherever he could in conscience do so, he would 
have maintained himself in the public esteem. But that was not his 
only mistake." — Senator George F. Hoar : Autobiography of Seventy 
Years. 



[ 269 ] 



LETTERS OF 
To Walker, in South America 

821 Fifteenth St., Washington, December IGth, 1881 

Friday morning. 

My dear Walker, — I went yesterday to 
Wormley's and called on the Frelinghuysens. Ban- 
croft Davis ^ will of course be Assistant Secre- 
tary, and the maiden Frelinghuysens and Sallie 
Davis will look out for the social department, 
and will do it well. The outgoing secretary is still 
in gay spirits, and I think, the best of health. 

In the meanwhile everything is going Stal- 
wart way.- Mr Frelinghuysen has expressed to 
3'our Father his hope that you will remain in 
the Department. He desires it on your Father's 
account, and for his own, everything he hears of 
you making him anxious to have you near him. 

Mr. Christiancy ^ having been interviewed by the 

> J. C. Bancroft Davis, Assistant Secretary of State imder Mr. 
Frelinghuysen. 

^ "Stalwarts" was the nickname given about this time to per- 
sistent advocates of a third term for Grant, 30G of them standing 
out for him in the Republican National Convention of 1880. To 
appease them Arthur was given the \-ice-presidcntial nomination, and 
on President Garfield's death and Arthur's accession to the Presi- 
dency their influence became predominant. E. Benjamin Andrevv^s 
in his "History of the Last Quarter Century in the United States," 
states that this word "stalwart" was coined by Mr. Blaine, who, 
however, makes no use of it in the account he gives in his book 
"Twenty Years in Congress," of the Chicago Convention of 1880. 

^ Isaac I'eckham Christiancy, Free-Soil candidate for governor of 
[ 2'0 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Herald, and stating that the first sentence or para- 
graph of your Father's South American despatch 
to him, as now pubHshed, had not been on the 
original paper, your Father wrote him, when he 
came down handsomely. His note will be given to 
the Press to-day. Joseph Manley and Mr. Bigelow 
are here, and have just interrupted my letter with 
a most friendly call. They deeply and devotedly feel 
your Father's retiracy, and are longing to see him 
in the Senate. M. and B. have just come from the 
trial, in which they had been most deeply inter- 
ested. With oceans of love — and you know what 
an ocean is. 

Washington, Monday, Dec. 19, 1881, 10 a.m. 
My deah Walker, — I am in the midst of punch 
making, and Lewis has judiciously allowed a stick 
of wood to fall on his side, and your Father sur- 
renders the portfolio to-day to Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
and has now gone to the Department with Secretary 
Hunt, and C. A. comes this afternoon, and to-night 
we give a reception to the Corps Diplomatique, and 
Congress has unanimously asked your Father to 
deliver the oration at the Congressional Memorial 

Michigan in 1852, and one of the founders of tlie Republican party. 
Mr. Christiancy was elected I'. S. Senator in 187.), and resigning in 
February, 1879, was sent as Minister to Peru, from 1879-81. 

[271 ] 



LETTERS OF 

services on the death of Garfield, and I am against 
his accepting it, as he is himself, but almost every 
friend he has insists that he shall do it,^ and how 
it will end, I know not. One insuperable objection, 
it seems to me, is the emotion your Father will 
feel, embarrassing him to an uncontrollable extent, 
I am sure. And the man is here about the flowers, 
and altogether it is a representative day in the 
Blaine family, as it has hitherto flourished, though 
very likely this is the last of them. Well, to a 
good deal of this make-up, I can cheerfully say 
good-bye ; welcome to go, is the punch and all that 
part of it, and if your Father does not miss the 
carking cares, as the starved Irishman misses the 
heart of the potato, I am ready to lighten the ship 
by throwing overboard all this old load. He says 
he does not and shall not, that he is not thinking 
of it at all, but that all his trouble comes from his 
business. I am glad the Dodger comes this after- 
noon. Happily yesterday he had an engagement to 
dine at the Hales — a Senatorial dinner ; afterwards 
he went to Mrs. Robeson's, coming home late and 
sleeping well. I suppose long before you are read- 
ing this all these troubles will be over, so you are not 

' Representative, afterwards President, McKinley, of President 
Garfield's State of Ohio, was especially urgent, and it was his voice 
chiefly which persuaded Mr. Blaine to agree to the delivering of the 
eulogy on President Gailield. 

[ 272 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

to add to your homesickness, provided you are so 
afflicted, the positive clement of anxiety about us. 

We hope to go to New York in a few days, when 
I shall get myself as good an outfit as though we 
still had the State Department. Politically, every- 
thing goes one way. The wind is Stalwartward, and 
their laps are filled, and the hungry are not sent 
hungry away. 

H. S. B. 

To M., IN Paris 

Washington Dec 22nd, 1881, 
My dear M., — I am afraid I have neglected you 
lately, owing to other letters which I have been 
writing, but my heart is always yours. The second 
day of rain is drawing to a close, very bad for Christ- 
mas week. Two presents only have I bought, a pin 
for Alice and another for Carl Sherman. Tlicre 
seems nothing in Washington to buy. The Freling- 
huysen reception was a very brilliant affair. I wore 
my old white and stood in my old satin slippers till 
I nearly fainted. As is usual with our parties, a 
number stayed until very late. Your Father appeared 
at his very best, but after all it was the dying song 
of the swan, and the next morning there was no John, 
and the next afternoon no New York papers. How- 
ever, for the former I do not care, as I always hated 
VOL.1 —18 [ 273 ] 



LETTERS OF 

to use an official carriage. C. A. and I have now 
taken to the horse cars, but I think your Father is 
seriously contemplating the carriage question. It 
does seem absurd, to have four horses and a pony 
in Augusta, and hire a carriage here. While I write, 

F S is playing all sorts of old fashioned 

tunes to your Father, who I fear, is in too tender a 
mood. To-morrow he goes to New York, which will 
be a good change for him, and Tuesday I expect to 
join him, C. A. going with me. From Walker we 
do not yet hear, though I long inexpressibly for him. 
I suppose you will want to know what the ex-Secretary 
is going to do. Well, first and foremost, he will try 
to retrieve his fortunes, and then he is to deliver 
the eulogy on Garfield before Congress, and thirdly 
he will look up his railroads, etc. 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON Dec 24th, 1881. 
Dearly beloved M,, — School is out, but the 
boy is not at play. On the contrary, his leisure is 
as oppressive to him as Rollo's on his holiday, and 
were it not for the Garfield eulogy, which makes a 
goal for his reveries, I should think him a little blue. 
Not so much because he has lost the Secretaryship 
of State alone. It is not so much the money I care 
for, as the time in which it has taken to itself wings. 
[ 274 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

The tonic of money making is so much more stimu- 
lating than any other at certain times. Breakfast 
is just over, and your family are sitting about as 
usual. Tom not yet here, because, poor fellow! he 
fondly hoped he was to have an idle day, as your 
Father had expected to spend to-morrow with Mrs 
Lawrence at Doylestown, but H made such a fuss 
about his leaving our already diminished family for 
Christmas, that he gave it up, so now we have all to 
make an effort to keep him in a good humor. Alice is 
dressing one of her dolls for a Sunday School scholar, 
I think, and C. A. with one hand shading her eyes, is 
going through the morning papers. The Freling- 
huysens have left town, also the President. Mrs F 
has asked me to receive with her on New Year's Day, 
and if I am in the city, I shall, hut Tuesday we 
go over to New York, Yesterday Sackville-West 
brought his daughter to call. She reached Wash- 
ington the night before, and he wished her to make 
her first call at this house. She is extremely pleas- 
ing and quite pretty. Not one word yet from Walker, 
though we shall now begin to look for letters. Can 
you imagine how I miss him.'* 

Christmas Day. 
Father has only now had his slice of toast and cup 
of tea. Meanwhile since the family breakfasted, I have 
hud a long talk with him, finding him very cheery and 
[275 ] 



LETTERS OF 

cheerful, even over his moneys which are not what 
could be wished. He says there is only one position 
which he craves in the future, the Presidency may go, 
but he would like to carry out his views of statecraft 
in 1885 as Secretary of State. Do you know, I think 
this election of a President every four years makes 
life very short. Hayes is elected, and the disap- 
pointed immediately mortgage the future. And Gar- 
field dies, and his friends, pushed to the wall, at 
once forecast conclusions for the next administration. 
I Interrupted myself in my letter yesterday to take 
H to Mme Outrey's, wliither she was to go to prac- 
tice a carol which her children and Ethel Robeson 
and Max Heard are to sing to-morrow at eleven. I 
came home just too late for Mrs. Swayne's ^ funeral, 
which C. A. and I had it in our hearts to be at, and 
then came a long stretch of visitors, all agreeable, 
some foreign and most of them regretful of our 
changed fortunes. Not all, perhaps, as Bancroft 
and Mrs. Davis were among them, and I suppose he 
is de-facto Secretary of State. After these visits 
were over, C. A. and I returned the West visit, and 
paid one to the Spanish Minister's wife, then home to 
dinner; after which, 3'our Father, C. A., H. and 
Jamie went to hear Lotta in " Bob," a Christmas 
treat from the Pater. 

1 Wife of ex-Justice Swayne of the U. S. Supreme Court. 
[ 276 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

I am delighted that you have seen Mr. Phelps. I 
should have written him long ago, had I not supposed 
he was cominer home. I do not see how I can write 
you anything about politics, inside or outside views. 
In Europe, of course, your Father's policy, which is 
decidedly American, you will see very much criticised, 
and you must remember that this is really greatly to 
his credit. A policy which European countries would 
applaud, could not be very American. 

H. S. B. 

Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York Dec 29th, 1881. 

Thursday moraing. 

My dearest daughter, — Your Father and I 
came over to this city Tuesday afternoon, arriving in 
a storm, and stormy it has been ever since. I am 
about my dressmaking, and my dearer self — and 
certainly he might apply the title with another sig- 
nificance to me — is looking up his sadly neglected 
stocks. The only question now is, are they worth 
taking any notice of? All that fine Fortunatus' 
purse which we once held the strings of, and in which 
we had only to insert the finger to pay therewith for 
the house, has melted from the grasp which too care- 
lessly held it, and we must look about for new invest- 
ments, the comfort of which I find is the inference 
that there is still enough left to spare for investments. 

Your Father says he is not even thinking of public 
[277] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

affairs, while every issue of the press contains at 
least one resume of his intentions and ambitions, the 
upshot of all being the presidency in '84. I am fast 
becoming content with the situation. As soon as 
people cease asking me if I am going to leave Wash- 
ington, I shall be entirely so. 



[ 278] 



1882 



To ]M., IN Paris 

Friday morning [January]. 

Here is a letter from your Father just received, 
though I do not know that I have yet told you that 
he went over to New York again Wednesday. Wliile 
I was there, we were invited to Mr. Reid's to dinner, 
to meet Mr. James, the novelist. 

I suppose you will see in the newspapers that Gen 
Grant is out for the restoration of Fitz-John Porter,^ 
the simple meaning of which is, that he desires himself 
to be placed on the retired list of the U. S. A., with 
the pay of General, and the Democrats will not vote 
for it, unless Porter goes through at the same time. 
This I suppose is the true inwardness of the whole 
thing. What do you suppose Mrs. Logan will do 
with all that testimony she got together for her 
husband's three days' speech two years ago.'' The 

* "General Fitz-John Porter, one of McClellan's most efficient 
commanders durinf^ the Peninsular Campaign. . . . Temporarily at- 
tached to the Army of Virginia (Pope's) and formal charges having 
been made against him, he was deprived of liis command. . . . He M-as 
ordered to Washington for trial by court-martial, on charges preferred 
by General Pope, and in 1863 he was cashiered for violation of the 
9th and 52d Articles of War. In 1870 he appealed to tlie President 
for a reversal of the sentence, and in 1878, a commission of inquiry 
was instituted to determine whether there was new evidence in his 
favor. ... He was finally, in 188(5, restored to his rank of colonel and 
retired." — Harper's Encyclopwdia of United States History. 

[ 281 ] 



LETTERS OF 

allusion in your Father's note relates to a criticism 
of ]\Ir. Evarts on the Clayton-Buhver ^ paper of your 
Father's. I was at the White house on Monday, also 
at the Frelinghuysens'. Jamie went around and paid 
visits with your Father and was quite in love with the 
ceremonies of the day. We were all at the Freling- 
huysen breakfast. Alice, as usual, was at Gen. 
Sherman's, and wore her new prune colored velvet, 
looking very handsome. Good-bye, with quantities 
of love from everybody. 

H. S. B. 

To Walker 

We have cards to-day to the Susy Washbume 
wedding. Mr. Bishop is to be in the city to-morrow, 
as we know by a telegram to your father. 

Mrs. Wadsworth made me a long call the other 

* "The Clayton-Bulwer treaty was negotiated in 1850 between 
this country and Great Britain, and guarranteed the neutrality and 
encouragement of lines of interoceanic travel across the American 
isthmus. In 1881 the Columbian Republic had proposed to the Euro- 
pean powers that they should unite in guaranteeing the neutrality of 
the Panama Canal. On June 24, Mr. Blaine issued a circular letter 
declaring the objection of this government to any such concerted 
action, and asserting the prior and paramount rights and obligations 
of this country. . . . Throughout the correspondence, IVlr. Blaine 
insisted in the firmest tone tliat it was the fixed purpose of the United 
States to consider the Istlimus Canal question as an American ques- 
tion to be dealt with and decided by the American governments." — 
Appldori's Encyclopaedia of American Biography. 

[ 282 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

day, full of inquiries for you. Said she never was at 
a better fete or had a more delicious lunch, than that 
on the Despatch,^ all of which she understood was 
managed by you. Reminded me that she there first 
met Arthur. We dined at Judge Cox's ^ Saturday. 
Arthur has at last asked Lincoln to remain. Do 
not feel uneasy about us. Your Father said yes- 
terday, the Presidency came no more into his cal- 
culations, but that his family had never seemed so 
dear to him, nor had he ever felt himself so devoted 
to them. With which lovely sentiment I take my 
leave. 

With love, 

H. S. B. 
To M., IN Paris 

821 Fifteenth St. Wednesday evening, 
January 11th, 1882. 

My dear M., — I am writing at your Father's 
sacred table — the table consecrated to his Eulogy 
on Garfield — and where do you think tliis table is 
situated.? In medias res, you will at once decide, for 
you who know him so well, will remember that his 
muse, historical or political, dwells always in the 
bosom of his family. So when he saw my large old- 

» The U. S. S. Despatch, presidential yacht, afterwards lost off 
the coast of New Jersey. 

2 Walter Smith Cox of Washington, appointed by President Hayes, 
in 1879, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of 
Columbia. He presided at the Guiteau trial in 1881-82. 
[ 283 ] 



LETTERS OF 

fashioned table, which I had had brought down from 
the billiard room and covered with one of those old 
green table cloths which I have had time out of mind, 
that I might have writing room for my correspond- 
ence with my absent children, he at once asked if it 
might be kept for him ; so almost all day he has been 
here, writing the parallels between Thaddeus Stevens ^ 
and Garfield, Garfield and Gladstone, and Garfield and 
Garfield. 

Alice is going to hear Rossi ^ In Lear to-night, and 
one of the Jamies or one of the H's must accom- 
pany her, and if it be I, I must put on a short 
dress, and I have still to eat an unpretending dinner 
of stewed chicken, for which I have little inclination, 
as it was there when I had luncheon, your Father and 
I having made a pilgrimage at high noon to the new 
house. I went into your room and echoed Duchess 
May's prayer as she crossed the threshold of Llnter- 
gen. We also walked the plank into the Windom 
house. Alice has been out and made Cabinet calls for 
me, for you know I am reduced now to Mrs. A*s 

' "Thaddeus Stevens was the unquestioned leader of the House 
of Representatives from July 4, 1861, when it assembled at the call 
of Lincoln, until his death, which occurred in 1868. The legislative 
work of that period stands unapproached in difficulty and importance 
in the history of Congress, if not indeed of any parliamentarj' body 
in the world." — S. W. McCall: Thaddeus Sievens, in American 
Statesmen Series. 

* Ernesto Rossi, the Italian actor, author, and dramatist. 

[ 28-4 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

foundation, and must call on everybody, even on the 
A's, so to the lowest deep I find a deeper still. As 
my new cloak had not come from Egan, your Father 
— who would accuse him of such weakness.'' — ad- 
vised me to call by proxy, hence Alice's mission. My 
dresses came yesterday. Only think of the relief! 
They fit, they are not loud, they are handsome, and 
as far as can pertain to my years, they are becoming. 
We are now in the midst of all the gayety there is, 
and perhaps I have never seen as quiet a winter in 
Washington. 

Thursday noon. 
I am about starting for Mrs. S.'s, where to my 
sorrow, I am going to luncheon, with Alice and INIiss 
Dodge. I have the excitement of my new dress and 
the prospect of three good hours indoors, when I 
want to be visiting. Then all the morning, there has 
been a steady run of callers, so that I have been in 
the parlor all the time. Your Father has been in 
possession all the morning of my room, and a more 
unhandy thing than this fancy, it would be hard to 
conceive. But perhaps this is the last sacrifice I shall 
be called on to make for Garfield. 

Saturday afternoon, Jany 14th. 
I hope, M., you will see the Tribune, to read the 
telegram from Whitclaw Reid, sent to President Gar- 
[ 285 ] 



LETTERS OF 

field about the Robertson appointment/ and stolen 
and given to the Herald ; then John Hay's letter 
from Cleveland to Reid," and Garfield's letter to 
Nichols,^ and the editorials coresponding, which all 

* A telegram from Mr. Reid, dated March 27, 1881, ad\-ising 
President Garfield to stand by bis apipointment of Judge Robertson 
as Collector of the Port of New York. President Garfield's New 
York appointments were in general opposed by the Senators from 
that State, Conkhng and Piatt, and the publication of the despatch 
alluded to in the " Letters" was called at the time a "stalwart" at- 
tempt to attack the dead President as having been too much under 
the iniluence of Secretary Blaine. 

^ Referring to the letter from John Hay to Mr. Reid given below, 
published in the New Y^ork Tribune of January 11, 1882. The 
Washington correspondent of the New Y'ork Herald had published 
Mr. Reid's despatch with the assertion that it had been personally 
shown to him by President Garfield, who had allowed him to take a 
copy of it. 

"No. 506, Euchd Avenue, 
Cleveland, Jan. 7, 1882. 

I write in haste to let you know that your dispatch to me must 
have been stolen from the wires. I have it here under lock and 
key. Nobody but myself has ever seen it — not even Garfield. I 
took it over to him and read it to him. He necer saw it, except in 
my hands — never touched it with his. It has been under lock 
and key ever since. You may proceed on this with absolute confi- 
dence. It was either stolen from your own copy in New York, or 
stolen from the vdres. ... I read it to Garfield and you remember 
what he at once said about withdrawing Robertson's nomination — • 
'They may take him out of the Senate head-first or feet first ; I 
will never withdraw him.' I have only a minute to catch the mail 
Yours faithfully, 

John Hay." 

^ Mr. Thomas M. Nichols had been one of the private secretaries 

as well as an intimate friend of President Garfield. He published a 

letter from the dead President, dated I\lay 29, 1881, in which, re- 

ferriiig to the Robertson appointment he wrote: "The attempt to 

[ 286 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

make very interesting reading. I enclose one of 
Grundy's stupid matter-of-fact society notes, think- 
ing you may see some names you are interested in. 
Yesterday C. A. and I spent the day at court, the 
Guiteau trial, I mean. Very interesting. 

H. S. B. 

821 FiiTEENTH St. WAsmNGTON Jany 17th 1882, 

Tuesday morning. 

Deaeest M., — I am sure I do not know what to 
write you, for I have pre-empted my day for let- 
ters to Walker and Mr Phelps, to whom I am cer- 
tainly going to write at length. Here we sit just 
through with breakfast, your Father having spent 
the hour of the family meal, in the parlor, talking to 
an untimely visitor, and now H and C. A. are sit- 
ting in one window, she reading and she reading — 
the one her book, the other the morning paper — 
and Tom is answering invitations, to the Freling- 
huysens, accepting dinner invitation to the united 
Blaine headship, and to Gen. Schenck, accepting 
breakfast invitation to your Father to meet the 
President next Saturday. And to-day I dine at 
the Allisons, and Alice lunches at Mrs. Wood's. 

shift the fight to Blaine's shoulders is as weak as it is unjust. The 
fact is, no member of the Cabinet behaves with more careful respect 
for the rigiits of his brother men than Blaine. It should be under- 
stood that the Administration is not meddUng in New York politics. 
It only defends itself when assailed." 

[287] 



LETTERS OF 

Thursday we gave a dinner to the President, Wests, 
etc. Your Father is writing the Eulogy, which now 
interests him, now tries him. The trouble is in eulog- 
izing and not going beyond the truth, for no man 
knew Garfield better than your Father, all his weak- 
ness and the greatness of his power. 

We see by newspaper telegraph from Panama, 
that Walker and Mr Trescott left Callao Christmas 
Day. Do you realize how little we know about him.'' 
You seem almost face to face with me. I wore my new 
velvet coat for the first time yesterday. Apparently 
Atlas did not find the world so heavy on his shoulders. 
This is a complete kill-joy. It cramps my arms and 
embarrasses my elbows. Your loving, 

H. S. B. 

To Walker, in South America 

821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON, Jany 17th 1882. 

Tuesday. 

Dear Walker, — The day has been made delight- 
ful by the arrival of letters from your own dear self. 
Hat's containing the Neptune Rex (You know Rex 
is one of the Latin words she is always declining, 
Continental fashion) address, your Father's and my 
own. Mr. Elkins was sitting with us when they came, 
and enjoyed listening to them, apparently as much 
as any of us. You ought to have heard H. " Oh, 
[ 288 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 
what a brother Jacky is ! " Your letter reveals such 
a depth of ignorance of the family affairs, I hardly 
know where or how to begin your enlightenment, and 
by this time, of course, you must know much which, 
when you wrote, had not been revealed to you. We 
have been now in private life for some time, but it 
makes but little difference to us, save in the matter 
of etiquette. It is Tuesday, and we dine to-night at 
the Allisons', Thursday we give a dinner to the 
President, Friday we dine at the Hales ; then next 
week Thursday we dine at the Frelinghuysens'. 
They seem to take Thursday for their dinner day, 
and this week we stumbled in our invitations upon 
many of their guests, Mrs. Wadsworth,^ for instance, 
the F's themselves, and the President. There was a 
little misunderstanding about the President, and 
John Davis - came around yesterday to make it 
straight. He had engaged on the same day to dine 
at two places, the Secretary of State's and here, but 
as our invitations were given out " to meet the Pres- 
ident," of course he had to come here. Hunt and 
Delano ^ and Lincoln are still in his cabinet, but I 

> Wife of James Wadsworth, Member of Congress from New 
York. 

2 Private Secretary to President Arthur and afterwards Judpe of 
the Court of Claims; married Miss Sally Frelinghuysen, daughter of 
the Secretary of State. 

» Columbus Delano of Ohio. Secretarj- of the Interior. 

VOL. I —19 [ 28!) ] 



LETTERS OF 

think he would be better pleased to have them where 
your Father is. It is plainly evident that Arthur 
is not his own master. I suppose you have seen that 
Grant has been interviewed on the Fitz John Porter 
matter? And that he has, over his own signature, 
stated that he believes nineteen years of injustice 
have been done to Gen. Porter. He is of course ac- 
cused of bidding for Democratic votes for his own 
retirement as General. Logan stands to his old 
argument and refuses to take any step backward. 
Your Father is this moment riding up to the door, 
with Mr. Parsons, who supplies horses and saddles 
and escorts. He looks well, and is cheerful and gay. 



To M., IN Paris 

821 FiFTEENTn St. 
Washington Jany gijth 1882, 

Wednesday. 

Dear M., — I had the pleasure of reading your 
last letter — the first in your new famille — in the 
court room, that vile room, daily resounding to the 
imprecations of Guiteau, the narrative of the tak- 
ing off of poor Garfield, the murmur of the crowd of 
attendants, the indecisive Judge's decisions. I had 
gone thither after a hasty breakfast, with Mrs Hill 
■ [ 290 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

of Colorado, Alice and C. A. and we stayed till tlic 
adjournment at 1-^2? but I shall never go again. 
Before this letter reaches you, everything will be de- 
cided, and I am much afraid to the interests of the 
wretch. It is amazing to see how many people insist 
upon his lunacy, which is only another term for ac- 
quittal; Mr. Ingersoll, for instance, who for some 
reason never speaks of Garfield, the Pendletons, and 
scores of others. For myself, I have but one wish, 
to see him put out of the way. I want it impossible 
for that hoarse, cracked voice, ever to raise itself 
again. As a pleasing contrast to the surroundings 
in which your letter was read, let me describe these 
in which this is being written. My own room, — the 
bio- old table from the billiard room in the center — 
your father at it writing the Eulogy — and as fast 
as he completes a page, reading it out to his admiring 
audience of Alice, C. A. and me. Jamie too can find 
no place to study in outside of my chamber door, and 
he is here at this moment with pen and ink and parch- 
ment paper and algebra, shouting at the top of his 
voice for information as to his co-efficients and expo- 
nents. H., dear darling H., has just started off 
through the snow storm to spend the morning with 
Rachel Sherman in her room, to which she is now con- 
fined. At twelve thirty she will come back and cheer- 
fully take up her French conversation with Mme. 
[ 291 ] 



LETTERS OF 

Kline, and at two, when lunch is ready, I shall go in 
and say, " Bon jour, Madame, come out and take a 
cup du the," and with this mixture of French and 
English, and with the combined efforts of H and Alice 
and C. A ; and above all of your Father, whose quick 
ear catches everything that is said, we scramble 
through a most entertaining meal, during which I 
manage to convey to Madame everything which I 
have been doing during the day. She says H is char- 
mante, and paries with a correct accent, but as you 
say, your true Frenchman will always say something 
pleasant to you. I was out all day yesterday making 
calls with Mrs. Hale, who had really taken to heart 
my indifference on this subject. On the whole, I en- 
joyed it, and in the evening C. A. and I were at IVIrs. 
Hill's ^ at a musicale, where good music and a better 
supper made the time pass very nicely- To-day I am 
going out again with a carriage full of cards and 
addresses. Now let me go back and take up a few 
dropped stitches. Have I told you that Oscar Wilde 
has been here, bringing a letter to your father from 
Archibald Forbes ? ^ We would not invite him to the 
house, but he came and called Saturday evening, and 
was here more than an hour. Very interesting I 

' Wife of Nathaniel Parker Hill, U. S. Senator from Colorado. 
^ Archibald Forbes, the EngHsh war correspondent, who married 
a daughter of General Meigs of Washington. 

[ 292 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

thought, though previously I had not been able to 
stay in the room with him. We have also been see- 
ing Henry James, who dined here. 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. Jany 28th 1882, Saturday morning 
My dear M., — I do not know with what particu- 
larity the text of the Chili-Peruvian papers ^ may be 
cabled to Europe, but as there is a great deal of 
talk on this side concerning them, I hasten to say, 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid. Only on the publication of these state papers, 

* INIr. Blaine's "foreign policy had two principal objects. The 
first was to secure and preserve peace throughout this continent. The 
second was to cultivate close commercial relations and increase our 
tratle with the various countries of North and South America. The 
accomplishment of the first object was preliminarj' and essential to 
the attainment of the second, and, in order to promote it, he projected 
a peace congress to be held at Washington, to which all the inde- 
pendent powers of North and South America were to be in\ ited. His 
plan contemplated the cultivation of such a friendly understanding 
on the part of the powers a; w uld permanently avert the horrors of 
war either through the influence of pacific counsels or the acceptance 
of impartial arbitration. Incidentally, it assumed that the assem- 
bling of their representatives at Washington would open the way to 
such relations as would inure to the commercial advantage of this 
country. The project, though already determined, was delayed by 
tlie fatal shot at Garfield, and the letter of invitation was finally 
issued on the 29th of November, 1881, fixing the 24th of November, 
1S82, as the date for the proposed congress On the 19th of December 
IMr. Blaine retired from the cabinet, and within three weeks his 
successor had reversed his policy and the plan was abandoned, after 
the iuNntation had been accepted by all the American powers except 
two." — Applt ton's Encydopaedia of Anurican Biugraphy. 

[ 293 ] 



LETTERS OF 

yesterday morning, in the daily newspapers, did your 
Father know that his instructions had been altered 
and revoked, and when I say his instructions, you 
will remember they are officially the President's act, 
he alone being responsible for them, and it is he who 
has gone back on himself, for you (his friends), must 
either admit, that he does not know to what he signs 
his name, or that he is vacillating and doubtful to 
the last degree. In point of fact, the papers were 
all read to him, and he approved them, understand- 
ing distinctly that they committed his government to 
a positive policy. I suspect that Bancroft Davis has 
kept from Frelinghuysen the successive steps of al- 
ternation and recantation and that the President 
himself is not intelligent on the matter. At any rate, 
he seemed completely unprepared for the charge of 
fickleness yesterday morning. You remember, don't 
you, what Orville Baker told us about Arthur's two 
passions, as he heard them discussed at Sam Ward's ^ 
dinner in New York? New coats being one, he hav- 
ing then already ordered twenty-five from his tailor 
since the new year came in ; the other, seeming to do 
things, while never putting his mind or his hands 
near them. Your Father saw the President yesterday 
morning and had a courteous interview w^ith him. 
What he, the Pater, may do hereafter, I do not know, 
' Samuel Ward of New York, a brother of Julia Ward Howe. 
[ 294 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

but at present, he has decided on the patient dignity 
of perfect silence. But he says he never wrote pa- 
pers of wliich a man or his cliildren ought to be more 
proud, and that there is not a single word in them he 
would have changed. Bo3aiton on the New York 
Herald is particularly outrageous on your Father, 
and as Mr. Nordhoff ^ employs him and is the re- 
sponsible manager of the Herald in Washington, we 
are going to cut him. Your Father is well and 
bright and busy, but feels that he has been treated 
with indignity and that the whole thing is simply 
a determination to break him down. 
With oceans of love, 

H. S. B. 

821 Fifteenth St. Thursday morning, Feby 2nd, 1882. 
Dearest M., — I am in the very throes — not of 
dissolution, but of visiting, — and having now made 
out a hst twice too long for my day and cards, I 
snatch the moment preceding luncheon, to tell you 
that Jacky was very wise, when he foresaw that the 
Frelinghuysen dynasty might not settle itself into 
the saddle, without an impulse to ride down your 
Father. Undoubtedly the State Department in- 
tended the life of your Father, which they expected 

* Charles Nordhoff, author and journalist, at that time Washington 
correspondent of the New York ilerald. 

[ 295 ] 



LETTERS OF 

to take, with all due regard for the convenances, and 
with so much dignity on their own part, that nobody 
would know that anybody was hurt, only by and by, 
it would strike people that our dearest dear was for- 
ever silent. But a man attacked from behind is not 
always worsted. He faces round, and is not deterred 
from striking back, for fear of hurting the clothes 
or gentility of his assailant. So with your Father — 
what difference does it make to him that Freling- 
huysen is a nice man who does a dirty thing.'' He 
knows the act and the man, and holds the latter to 
account for the former. I verily believe the Secre- 
tary of State expected to silence Blaine. They re- 
voked his instructions, though they were Arthur's 
as well ; they kept back his papers, they sent to 
Congress garbled despatches of Trescott's, they per- 
mitted private letters of Christiancy to be sent to 
Congress. Nordhoff employed Boynton, an old and 
bitter enemy of your Father, to send the telegrams to 
the Herald, and John Russell Young^ wrote editorials 
accusing the ex-Secretary of dishonesty and dirty 
tricks, and Nordhoff himself has telegraphed attack 
upon attack, and what does it all mount to? Your 
Father will be vindicated in every particular. His 
policy is a patriotic one, and the people are going to 

' Journalist, war coircppondent, and librarian, succeeding A. R. 
Spoilord as librarian of Congress. 

[ 296 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

so recognize it. Not a selfish thought is in it, but 
it is in all its ramifications, American.^ I must stop, 
but first, a word or two en famille. Your Father is 
going this afternoon to Baltimore to dine with Mr. 
Garrett,^ Last night, we were at Mrs. Bancroft's. 
The President came up and asked me to do him the 
honor of walking through the rooms with him. Of 
course it was intentional. I complied, and we made 
a slow progress, I in my new dress, which is the hand- 
somest I ever had. Never talk to me about black 
velvet again ! I expect to see it in the newspapers, 
or should, only there was no member of the fraternity 
there. Not a word of news from Walker. Poor fel- 
low, shouldn't you think he would feel perplexed.'' 
Young ^Mills"^ is to be married to Miss Livingston in 
a month. In great haste, 

H. S. B. 

Your Father sends his best love. This attack has 
stimulated him, and he is as well as he ever was in his 
life. There comes a fourth of ;March, which, to use 
Fred's term, is a coM day. Look at poor Hayes. I 

' See note, page 13, Vol. II. 

' Robert Garrett, at that time first vice president of the Balti- 
more and Ohio R. R. It was at a business interview with Mr. Garrett 
that Wi'.'.iam H. Vanderbi'.t died suddenly from apoplexy, at Air. 
Vanderbilt's house in New York. 

» Ogden :Mil!s, son of D. O. Mills of New York and California, 
marrid Miss Ruth Livingston. 

[ 297 ] 



LETTERS OF 

heard him so abused at Mrs. Hill's breakfast yester- 
day, that I really came to his defense, and as I did it, 
I said I beheved I was the only person at the table, 
who, four years ago, had dared to have the courage 
of my convictions, but that now I thought his offenses 
were condoned. No one had hitherto sat in judg- 
ment upon him or Mrs. Hayes, and now they deserved 
the charity of the grave. All our friends say that 
your Father's position is all that could be desired. 



To Walker in Chili 

821 Fifteenth St. WAsmNGTON, Feby 8th, 1882, 

Wednesday A. M. 

Dearest Walker, — Sevellon Brown has sent over 
a list of the Foreign Mail departures, so that I now, 
every time that I raise my eyes, am reminded that the 
South American mail leaves New York Friday the 
10th, and it behooves me to set down, in order or dis- 
order, all that I can remember of what has been going 
on in the bosoms and home of your devoted family, 
since last I wrote ; and, to begin at the end, Emmons 
is with us, or rather was yesterday, and will be we 
hope at any moment, though he yesterday afternoon 
v/ent over to Baltimore to look up Otho and spend 

the night. 

[ 298 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Emmons says he is going to Topeka, Kansas, and 
I have no doubt it is his destiny to do so, as so often 
as he ends his negotiations, kind fate re-opens them, 
and we know that what is writ is writ. He is a dear 
dehghtful son. . . . Business tells on him, and he 
begins to look careworn and more man than boy. Of 
course he lost no time in tasting the sweets of Wash- 
ington society. Commencing with the Pendletons, to 
whose reception we went that evening, where was 
everybody almost whom one wants to meet, all the 
old stars and others, like the Jays, the Rathbone 
girls. Miss Heard,^ and a score of others. The 
Pendleton House is a funny little box of an affair, 
where I have a feeling that only a portion of the 
company is on exhibition at once, and that after the 
spectator has looked long enough at this section, the 
crank will be turned, and as many more come into 
view. I am willing the Pendletons should have it for 
an abiding habitation, as Jamie would say, but as for 
me, give me Massachusetts Avenue and 20th street. 

And yesterday morning Emmons breakfasted with 
E., first going to the P. O. Department to look up 
his case, which alas, he finds decided against him, 
solely on the responsibility of Solicitor General Phil- 
lips, Mr. Howe and Mr. Elmer dissenting totally. 

' Daughter of Augustine Heard, at one time one of the great 
merchants in the Chinese trade. 

[ 299 ] 



LETTERS OF 

After his breakfast, Baltimore, and to-night he dines 
with Mrs. Hale. Whether he will immediately return 
to Chicago or await the Eulogy, he has not yet de- 
cided. This important funereal day is fixed for the 
27th, and the orator to be is really devoting his morn- 
ing to it. I can hear Jamie this minute kissing him 
good-bye, as he makes ready to climb the Hill of 
Learning, as is his daily wont, for his tutor lives 
beyond the Capitol. 

February 8th, 1882. 
You would be delighted, could you see how well and 
bright and happy your Father is, dressed immacu- 
lately in one of his new Baltimore suits, carefully 
trimmed quoad hair and beard, and in the full exercise 
of a mental faculty which makes the administration 
cry for the little dog at home to know whether they 
be they. It would be impossible for me to post you 
as to the situation, which is so interesting, that I am 
half the time breathless with excitement. Still I con- 
gratulate you that you are not here. Your position 
would be embarrassing, and if the State Department 
did not drop you, you would feel obliged to drop it. 
There can be no doubt, however, that a strong feeling 
is growing for your Father's policy. It appeals to 
the American sentiment, and the friends of the Admin- 
istration have done the President incalculable harm 
[ 300 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

by rushing to his defense with all sorts of wild 
assertions ; such as that he did not know of the Peace 
Conference, that Mr. Trescott had private instruc- 
tions from the Secretary, etc., which, proved to be 
true, vrould condemn Arthur out and out. 

I must not forget to chronicle an adroit little trick 
of INIrs. Bancroft's. We were all at a lovely little 
party at her house last Wednesday evening, and it 
was not till Saturday that I discovered that all the 
other invitations, save ours, read " To meet Secre- 
tary and Mrs. Frelinghuysen." Accordingly, I asked 
your Father if he would go to the Bancrofts to meet 
the Frelinghuysens. Most decidedly not, he said. 
So I looked up our invitation and found, to my great 
satisfaction, there was no mention of the F's. in our 
notes. Now it turns out that all the other invitations 
mentioned the F's. So INIonday afternoon, when I 
was making my party call on Mrs. Bancroft, I asked 
her about it. Why, the Frelinghuysen name was so 
long, that after writing out a good many invitations, 
she concluded to drop it, and our cards came among 
the abbreviated ones. I assured her that the ex- 
planation was entirely satisfactory to me, but I asked 
as a special favor that she make the same explanation 
to Mrs. Frelinghuysen, at the same time telling her 
that our cards did not contain their honored name. 
This she solemnly promised to perform, but she 
[ 301 ] 



LETTERS OF 

looked at me scrutinizingly as she promised, no doubt 
deciding whether it would be safe to remember to 
forget. 



To M., IN France 

821 Fifteenth St. Monday morning, Feby 13th, 1882. 
Dearest M., — I have your letter of the 29th 
ultimo, and as I received it this morning, I know 
how you were just two weeks ago yesterday, and I 
have been looking in my diary to see what we at home 
were doing on that day, and find that your Father 

was giving his interview to the Post, that H 

went to St John's and was extremely affected by the 
sermon, which was pertinent to the installation of 
deacons, which there occurred, and that in the evening 
the Sperrys of New Haven — do you not remember 
being invited there while in Farmington ? — were 
here. Also that your Father, to show that he was 
well and generally as good as of old, attended Mrs 
Robeson's Sunday evening. Since I wrote you, Em- 
mons has come and gone, and we miss him fearfully, 
as he fills a relation to his parents which neither 
II, J'aime or Alice touch. Saturday evening he 
dined at Lieut. Emory's, then went to a theatre party 
with E., then home, almost at the same moment with 
your Father, C. A. and I, who had dined at the 
[ 302 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

Outreys. After admiring my dress, which he saw for 
the first time, he packed, while Lewis got him a sup- 
per and all the others went to bed, save myself, who 
sat up till twelve, when I sent him to the station, 
though his train was not to leave till two, but he could 
go to bed at once, and this morning I hope he is all 
ready for business at his office in Chicago. He lost 
one day at home, through sick headache, including 
a dinner at Mrs. Hale's. E came over at five last 
night, bringing Mr. Northcote, the second son of 
Sir Stafford,^ with her. She would not stay for sup- 
per, but Mr. Northcote went away, put on his even- 
ing dress, returned, and with Mr. McBride, the Utah 
M.C., seemed to enjoy supper and talk immensely. As 
he had had no dinner, there was the best reason in the 
world for his appetite, and another and not a bad 
one, for his more intellectual avidity. I am as usual 
writing in my room, which has now, as I have often 
told you, been converted into a sanctum, sacred to 
Garfield, and here your Father, who cannot bear to be 
alone, though he prohibits talking, is devoting him- 
self to the most difficult portion of his eulogy, the 
lonjr sickness with its fatal termination. For the 
second time this morning, I see him taking from the 

' Sir Stafford Northcote, latter Lord Iddesleijjh, the English 
stntesman, a member of the Alabama Commissiou. Lord Iddeslcigh 
was executor of Gladstone's will. 

[ 303 ] 



LETTERS OF 

drawer a fresh pocket handkerchief, with which he 
vainly tries to hide his tears, and this time, wholly 
overcome, he has beaten a retreat to the blue room. 
Oh, M., there indeed is a Douglas, tender and true! 
But if the writing so moves him, how with a great 
audience before him, is he ever to control his emotion? 
Two weeks from this very hour, unless the unfore- 
seen prevents, he will be in the very thick of it. 
Emmons comes back to hear him. It will not be 
eloquent, but it will be faithful. 

Alice is soon to start for Leavenworth. i\Irs Dunn^ 
is here in the city. Friday she dined with us. It 
seems very soon for the Scotts to be returning, but 
how much better to make even that short trip than 
none! There is nothing I so much regret, as that 
I have not been abroad. It is too late now for the 
foreign tour to seem attractive to me. Glasses, em- 
bonpoint, and a certain tendency to uncertainty re- 
garding all earthly affairs, make me reluctant to 
take risks, but if we cannot come abroad this year, 
you must remember that you can come home, to re- 
turn in the fall. As you are a good sailor, money will 
be the only preventing consideration, and we are 
not yet quite poor. 

Poor Father, I wish he would come down stairs! 

' Wife of Major William McKee Dunn, U. S. A., and daughter of 
Senator Morrill. 

[ 304 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

The political situation remains about the same. 
I saw the President last at Mrs. Bancroft's party. 
The Frelinghuysens are exteriorly all that could be 
desired, but I think this administration is doomed. 
I do not believe that anything will seize it but perdi- 
tion, and I do not love it. 

I have been looking over the album to find an auto- 
graph of Garfield, in vain, but in my next letter I hope 
to send you one. I think Gambetta ^ is the man of 
France. We have two portraits of him hanging on 
the wall, and I presume he is the one Frenchman of 
all others who has a foreign reputation. 

Whitelaw Reid is with your Father in his foreign 
policy, but the papers were all given to the press 
without warning, and he says he was caught unin- 
formed on the subject. Not one word from Walker. 
Good-bye, my dearest. I am now going to lunch 
and then to call on Mrs. Dunn with Mrs. Van Vlict - 
in the rain. With a bridge of love to span the ocean 
between us, always yours, 

H. S. B. 

' Leon Gambetta was a member of the French Chamber of 
Deputies in 18G9 and in the following year Minister of the Interior in 
the government of National Defense, dictator, deputy again and 
premier, 1881-82. He escaped from Paris during the Franco- 
Prussian War in a balloon and organized the armies of the Loire and 
of the North. 

^ Wife of General Van Vliet, Mr. Blaine's next-door neighbor in 
Washington, occupj-ing the former home of Governor Buckingliam. 
VOL. 1—20 [ 305 ] 



LETTERS OF 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, Feby 18th 1882, 

Saturday morniiig. 

Dearest M., — Alice is going away tonight and 
the eulogy is finished in all its parts, and only 
needs now the work of the skillful joiner, and I went 
to a picture auction this week, where I have foolishly 
or wisely spent many dollars, so that with the excep- 
tion of notes, I have not this week had pen in hand. 
And even now, I am writing at one side of the table, 
vis-a-vis with your Father, and C. A., the former 
transcribing to the latter's reading, " the religious 
element of Garfield was strongly marked," etc. etc. 
The eulogy is going to be good. Carefully discrim- 
inating, it is an authoritative utterance on the ability 
and work of Garfield, which, while it carefully ig- 
nores the author, shi'inks from no issue which the 
administration of Garfield involved. 

We have heard from Walker at Santiago de Chile, 
but his letter, which is a Journal, is painfully deficient 
in " personal mention," and I agree with E. who 
read it, that she would rather know whether he had 
garlic for supper than all these pages can tell of 
Presidents and Ministers of whom we know nothing. 
And speaking of foreign potentates reminds me that 
you are not to give yourself the slightest anxiety 
concerning your Father's condition, past or present. 
Whoever has explanations or backdowns to make, it is 
[ 306 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

certainly not he. Serene in the consciousness of a 
policy or policies which looked out for the interests 
of America, and which time is as sure to justify as 
it is to come, he may well wait undisturbed,^ while Mr 
Frelinghuysen accounts to his masters, the people, 
for his truckhng subserviency. 

I have had a long visit between these lines from 
Miss Snead," who has been here to get a suggestion 
from me as to the observance of the Eulogy Day. I 
can imagine your amusement at the large place the 
Eulogy occupies in my letters nowadays. When 
Jamie was snubbed by his Father the other day, he 
exclaimed, " Crushed by a Eulogist." To revert to 
my moutons, Miss Snead, she is to suggest that all 
ladies in the House on the day shall dress in black. 
I must not forget to tell you one bit of domestic news. 
Maggie Nurse is going to be married after Lent. 
She is really very much pleased, naively says she 
never dreamed she could get him. I am very much 
attached to her. 

All the time I am writing, imagine the careful 
criticism of language going on, " The true preroga- 
tives of his high office," reads your Father. " Is that 
any better? " says C. A. " than the true preroga- 
tives of the Presidency? " I join in the ensuing de- 

* See note, page 13, Vol. 11. 

* lleporter for the Evening Star and National Republican, Wash- 
ington. 

[ 307 ] 



LETTERS OF 

bate, and by and by, we lay over that line for to- 
morrow's fresh reading, and by and by I begin to 
listen again. " He followed with quickening step 
the researches of Darwin, Huxley," — 
Your own, — 

MOTHEE. 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington Feby 21st 1882. 

Dearest M., — I have this morning your letter 
of February 5th, and with it for a text, I think I 
can manage to fill this small sheet, though it was 
only day before yesterday that I mailed you a letter, 
and all of my letters, it seems to myself, go through 
certain formulas. 

I always mention the Eulogy, always speak of 
E. and the C.'s, name your Father and the children 
and C. A. and modestly allude to myself. Following 
the usual guides this morning, I have to say that 
your father is down stairs with Mr. Elkins, and Tom 
and C A are also there, waiting for this room, which 
Fagie is now vindictively dusting, with that thing 
abhorred of Aunt Hannah, a long-handled feather- 
duster. Whatever becomes of it eventually, she cer- 
tainly dislodges a vast quantity, and while she raids, 
I know that her mind is far away from this home and 
family, and that she is mentally deciding on the color 
of her wedding dress. I know it, because she has just 
[ 308 ] - 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

brought me two samples of silk, one, claret colored 
at a dollar a yard, — the other black, fifty percent 
higher. Neither of them will of course pay for mak- 
ing up. I would give her her wedding-dress myself, 
did I not think I had better perhaps look out for 
something less perishable. Last night, your Father 
and I were at the English Legation, at a ball. For 
a wonder, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Plenty of room 
to sit, delightful music, pretty dances and dancers, 
a supper, and attentive friends. Mr. West took out 
Mrs. Bancroft Davis, and Count Lewenhaupt ^ fol- 
lowed with me. The President and the Frehng- 
huysens had gone to Baltimore to see " Patience." 
If you remember the description of Arthur, as given 
by Mr. Hurlburt of the World, at Sam Ward's din- 
ner, when Orville Baker was present, you have a very 
correct idea of him. I do not think he knows any- 
thing. He can quote a verse of poetry or a page 
from Dickens and Thackeray, but these are only 
leaves springing from a root out of dry ground. His 
vital forces are not fed, and very soon he has given 
out his all. I hardly know whether we are on terms 
with him. The last time I saw him was at Mrs. Ban- 
croft's party, and I am not likely now that Lent is 
upon us, to see him again. The last time he was 

' Count Carl Lewenhaupt, Minister from Sweden and Norway to 
the United States. 

[ 309 ] 



LETTERS OF 

here, he spoke to me of his chagrin that we had not 
been invited to the White House, but time wears on, 
and the invitation hngers, and I do not think a 
perfectly well bred President would make such an 
apology. He certainly commands his own house and 
table. I hear in society only approving words. 
Can a President be otherwise than fascinating, pleas- 
ant, intelligent and dehghtfully welcome.'^ 



To Walkee, in South America 

821 Fifteenth St. Ash Wednesday, Washington's Birthday, 

February 22nd, 1882, 4 p. M. 

Dearest Walker, — It is too bad you are so far 
away that I cannot sit down and write you a careless 
note, as I do to M. in Paris, to Emmons in Chicago 
and to Alice in Ft Leavenworth. Here I am, only 
just through lunch, at which hour Mrs. Kinsley, 
Miss Markoe, and Mr. Elkins all happened in. 
Mrs. Kinsley stayed over from a call. Miss Markoe 
came to bring me a package of cards loft at the 
State Department, and Mr. Elkins is already here, 
to make sure of the Eulogy. This important docu- 
ment is now in the hands of Tom, who is transcribing 
it in the blackest of ink and the largest of hands, on 
deeply black edged paper, so that the beloved orator 
need wear no glasses and may have perfect freedom 
[310] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

of feature and of expression. Nothing can equal the 
interest taken in the day, the pressure for seats and 
tickets is enormous. I am quite sure you will be 
satisfied. 

Last night, we all went to the Art Club's recep- 
tion to Mr. Corcoran.^ Your Father gave the wel- 
coming address, which was a perfect gem, and given 
in a manner which made moist eyes. I felt it deeply 
myself, but when Mrs Story said to me that she felt 
like crying whenever she thought of it, I knew he had 
played on the harp of a thousand strings. It was a 
complete surprise to me, who had not even heard one 
word of it. Mr Corcoran took me out to supper, 
and in every way in his power, testified to his delight. 
And, Walker, you would have felt proud and tender, 
could you have seen the dear Pater, giving in a voice, 
which was a caress and a benediction in itself, the 
little address I enclose — then seen him step one side, 
and with a simple dignity defer to Mr. Corcoran. 
Nothing better was ever done or said. 

Thursday morning. 
Am just getting off invitations for a dinner on 
Tuesday. Mrs Foster,^ Mrs. Wadsworth,^ the Lewen- 

' W. W. Corcoran, Washington banker, philanthropist, and 
founder of the Corcoran art gallery. 

' Wife of John W. Foster, who succeeded Mr. Blaine as Secretary 
of State under President Harrison. 

^ Mrs. Craig Wadsworth. 

[311] 



LETTERS OF 

haupts, the Jays, Kasson,^ Bliss, Schlesingers, Schuy- 
lers,2 Patterson ^ (Mr. Mcdill's son-in-law). Emmons 
we hope will take your place, though these terrible 
wash-outs, involving so much extra labor for all R.R. 
employees, may prevent. 

I am afraid, dear Walker, that if you have depended 
on me as to the situation, personal and more general, 
you have leaned on a broken reed. This morning I 
notice among the telegrams in the Boston Traveler 
of yesterday, that you have resigned, because of the 
strictures upon your Father, in his South American 
course. I do not suppose you have done so, though 
your Father for the first time seems aware of the 
importance of keeping you posted as to public senti- 
ment here. I am constantly writing family letters, 
which, I suppose, have the happy faculty of touching 
on things of the least importance. I am truly dis- 
gusted with myself as a universal correspondent 
anyway, and I feel as though my children must long 
for the sight of anothar handwriting, but to repair 
past neglect, I send you a budget cut indiscrimi- 
nately from the newspapers this morning. Do not 

* John A. Kasson of Iowa, formerly Minister to Austria; Col. 
William Jay and Mrs. Jay of New York. 

' Eugene Schuyler, the author and diplomat, who later died while 
Consul-General at Cairo. 

" Ilobert W. Patterson married a daughter of Joseph Medill of 
Chicago. 

[ 312 ] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

for one moment imagine that your Father is going 
do\m under this preconcerted attack on the part of 
the State Department and its friends. I imagine him 
very strong, and that the administration has lost its 
grip upon this policy, which is so American that it 
is bound to be the popular will. In short, dear 
Walker, use your own good sense, and ask yourself 
if it accords with your Father's past, that an attack 
does him anything but good. Good-bye, 

H. S. B. 

To M., IN France 

821 FuTEENTH St. WAsmNGTON, Feby. 24th, 1882. 
Deaeest M., — No better proof of the imminence 
of the 27th could be given, than the immense pile of 
books, now encumbering the chairs and slab of the 
entry, while waiting transportation to the State Li- 
brary. In fact, your Father is at this moment for 
the eleventh time, going over the manuscript, smooth- 
ing out all inequalities of language, for he persisted 
in the first place in writing in the most careless man- 
ner, insisting always, when I remonstrated on the 
awful after labor that he was laying up for himself, 
" Let me get down the ideas, and the language will 
come of itself." But alas, he often finds it frozen 
truth, only to be warmed into motion by infinite nurs- 
ing and pains. I have had a letter from you this morn- 
[313 ] 



LETTERS OF 

ing, which like all its predecessors has had a warm wel- 
come. I read it to your Father in bed. If I did not 
remember how Emmons mourned at Geneva and Wal- 
ker at Madame Hedler's, I should be quite miserable 
about you. But you are not yet up to their concert 
pitch. 

This letter is interjected between the lines of all 
sorts of things. Notes to people asking for tickets 
IMonday are in order always. We have about thirty 
tickets and hundreds of applications. E., the Law- 
rences, Col. Bliss and Miss Markoe go with me. No 
tickets are necessary for our high mightinesses. 
Jamie goes in with the Pater, also Emmons, also 
Tom, also Mr. Chandler. I think of your wardrobe. 
Why do you not get a seamstress to put you in order.'' 
We have a tea-party Sunda}^, a lunch Monday, a 
dinner party Tuesday. This is only to sing BAH 
to you, so good-by — 

H. S. B. 



To A1.ICE, AT Fort Leavenworth 

821 Fifteenth St. Washington, March 1st, 

Wednesday Morning. 

Dear Alice, — Now that the Eulogy is over and 

all the books sent back to their several libraries, and 

all the black edged paper banished, and this formerly 

[314] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

heavily freighted table, cleared up, you cannot think 
how bare and empty the room seems. All the world 
may come into it now and find nothing out of order, 
and I miss the dear figure, that for so many weeks 
has made it his studio. He is down stairs, however, 
for he cannot make up his mind to separate himself 
from his family, and I have this moment left him 
after a whole morning's talk with Mr. Elkins and 
Emmons, on railroads and coal. Mr. E. has now 
gone into ]\Ir. Chandler's to ask him about the Cabi- 
net appointment which the President is very possibly 
about to offer him. He will come back here for lunch 
if he sees ]Mr C. and gets through his call. 

Well, Alice, the Eulogy has been made, and when 
I say that I could ask nothing more of it, both as to 
audience, subject matter, time and place, delivery and 
reception, you will see that it equalled the unequalled 
occasion, for probably j'^our Father had not in that 
vast assembly a more exacting critic than myself. 
He has had the most delightful and warm assurances 
from his friends both by letters and word of mouth. 
The former, I shall keep for a special scrap book, 
and the latter I shall cherish in my heart of hearts. 
Yes, Alice, it is not too much to say that it is a 
success, and nothing succeeds like success. I had 
eight tickets to the Executive Gallery, E. had yours, 
C. A. another, i\Irs. Lawrence and Fanny Chapman 
[315 ] 



LETTERS OF 

other two, Mrs. Emory and Col. Bliss and Miss 
Markoe the others. We all left this house about ten, 
I in Mrs B 's carriage, and we all got fairly com- 
fortable seats in the gallery. Mr Bradbury repre- 
sented Augusta, on the floor of the House, going in 
with some Senator. There was a great deal of trouble 
about the seats, as only three galleries were reserved. 
The door keeper came down to turn me out of my 
seat, saying it was to be reserved for the Secretary 
of State's family, but when he saw who it was, he beat 
a retreat, and I and my friends had most of the seat, 
Mrs. Justice Matthews having one end and Mrs. 
Brewster the other. I believe there was a great deal 
of fuss and fume among the ushers in the gallery 
later, but I never turned my head, though E. with 
her big glasses, did not fail to note and comment 
upon all that was going on. From the first word, I 
knew that your Father had the ear of the audience. 
The attention was profound, and the interest un- 
tiring. 

To M., IN Paris 

Wednesday afternoon. 
Deah M., — I have written and addressed and re- 
voked the letter to Alice, which I now send to you. 
I am afraid to put off your letter, and I find I have 
no time left. It is not exactly written in the order 
[316] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

in which I was intending to unload my mind for your 
benefit, but the load is exactly the same. The Eulogy 
was fine and tender, and concise and interesting to 
the last degree, was listened to with untiring interest, 
and has been followed by an almost unbroken stream 
of congratulations. Probably you will miss nothing 
to compare with it while away from us, and I am 
truly sorry that only Jamie and Emmons, of all the 
children, heard it. The former, who might, had he 
listened, have known the whole history of the Eulogy 
from table talk for the last six weeks, woke up to it, 
only on the morning of the 26th, and then only to 
tease with persistence for tickets for two of his 
friends. But once your Father had begun, he lost 
not a word, and Mr. Elkins who was near him, says 
he cried without reserve or restraint. I send you 
copy of the resolutions ^ passed in the Senate to-day. 
Perry Belmont - has offered a similar Resolution in the 
House. " France " means Mr. Morton, who is said to 
have been interested in the sale of nitrates and guano. 

H. S. B. 

* Resolutions calUnp for an investifjation of our government's 
course in the matter of the recent war between Chile and Peru. The 
question of adjudicating specified American claims to guano fields 
which Chile claimed by right of conquest was involved, and an at- 
tempt was made by Democratic members in Congress to show th;it 
the Secretarv of State's course was not disinterested. 

* Perry Belmont, Representative from New York and a member 
of the Foreign jVffairs Committee. 



LETTERS OF 

March 2nd 1882, Thursday morning. 
My dear M., — If I have neglected you of late, 
let the times past suffice. I am now really begin- 
ning daily correspondence, as this letter if compared 
with my last in date and matter, proves. I am 
through with breakfast, through with my hair 
dressing, which I am in grave doubts about, as Lizzie 
has a constant tendency to elevate my frontispiece, a 
la Drum, and at twelve Emmons is to breakfast with 
the divine E. and Edith Fish, divinely tall and most 
divinely fair, — and at one, C. A. and I enjoy a 
dej euner with my lofty examplar in chignons — leav- 
ing your Father and Tom Sherman to each other, 
for Jamie is always with his tutor at one. Our matu- 
tinal reunion was made delightful by a great number 
of congratulatory letters, a very feehng one from 
Uncle Homan,^ to whom your Father had consider- 
ately sent an advance copy of his Eulogy, which he 
read, he said, to the neighbors and friends, at the 
same hour that it was delivered to the larger and more 
distinguished, but not more sympathetic and appre- 
ciative and affectionate, audience. One from Mrs. 
Garfield which I shall hereafter send you, a truly 

* Joseph A. Homan of Augusta, Maine, formerly editor of the 
Maine Farmer ; for more than thirty years Mr. Blaine's next-door 
neighbor and close friend. 

[318] 



MRS. JAMES G. BLAINE 

beautiful letter, pathetic in its perfect simplicity, not 
one trace of affectation to be discovered in it. 

The house was full of visitors all yesterday after- 
noon, everybody calling now to compliment the 
Eulogy, and Col. Rockwell has just gone away with 
a package of photographs of Mrs Garfield, which 
he had brought me to look at. Very pretty — and 
taken with the idea of affording an opportunity for 
a good portrait hereafter. I do not know anything 
further about the visit of j^our Father to England 
in May. His business is very uncertain, and it all 
depends on that. But I hold to your coming home, 
in the event of none of the family visiting Europe. 
Mr. Phelps is in Egypt, as I suppose you know. 
With love and prudent advice, 

H. S. B. 



END OF VOLUME I 



DEC 7 \^^'-^ 



